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mbvvacationbibleschool · 1 year

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Beyond Good and Evil

It’s come to my attention that I may be evil.

A weaponized and naive notion of propaganda, mixed with moral absolutism has caused many people to throw huge swaths of humanity and the strawman versions of their morality or ideology into the camp of absolute evil. It’s always us vs them, isn’t it? I got into some kind of argument where I ended up being treated as some kind of charicaturized version of the idiot yuppie naive swindled evil soft godless leftist environazi that I may represent in the minds of others. To some, I am the posterchild of evil, especially because I am not shy about speaking my mind- spreading the devil’s seeds of deception. I am the deluded one who has been bathing in propaganda.

It was very telling to me in that I had been painting these foolish stubborn backwards ecocidal fundamentalist assholes with an oddly similar brush. I even let myself feel afraid of the alt-left anarchistic anti-natal “antiracist” misanthropics that are willing to throw every baby out with the bathwater. Or of course the truly deplorable “neo-nazis” that are allegedly everywhere, rioting, killing, pillaging. For the radical, even you are a brainwashed bootlicker. Truly these people are evil, right?

First radicalized with the perception of environmental degradation, I found solidarity with the environmental movement, then the psychedelic movement, the posthumanists, moral relativistic deconstructionist and nihlistic philosophers of the current age. I’m all for a free expression of consciousness that is dignifying for people and the planet. You say you want a revolution? Well if what you’re talking about is violence, you’re going to have to count me out.

Most people are starting to see the cracks forming in our society’s foundation as growing problems rear their ugly head in droves with solutions constantly blocked by the bogieman of your choosing - is it the brainwashed left or the brainwashed right? Is it the rich or is it the politicians? Is it your neighbor? Anyone but me, once radicalized, of course. It’s easy to end up in perpetual exasperation with the dizzying paradox of everything changing and nothing changing fast enough.

You want to take down the Borguouse? Don’t chase red herrings. Divide and conquer, as the old saying goes. A binary view of evil and defining outgroups through tribalism is the most effective way to stunt change or to ensure unintended or civillian casualties (figuratively or literally). Even Liberals are guilty of tribalism and redifining outgroups. I do believe that a binary view of morality will cause hatred and division by default- at best, it will convey easy answers to hard questions that really ought to be wrestled with for one’s own sake. As Socrates once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Yin and Yang is about how everything has aspects of good and evil in it, and that any ideology brought to its logical extreme has severe negative consequences. As Marcus Aurelius said; “Men were born to be in service to one another.” If we are part of the same body (as it also says in the Bible) then why would one hand strike the other?” We are trying to push a leaning tower of a society, and it seems like taking a balanced or weak stance will mean the tower will topple right onto our heads.

It’s easy for me to say that what we consider as right and wrong is mostly convention, as someone with a very laissez-faire and impersonal view of the divine influence on our human development. My ideas are a hodgepodge of Charlie Darwin and the Dada artists, Nietzsche, and of course the most controversial and brilliant pieces of post-modernist cinema such as Rick and Morty. We came from monkeys and our society has been left to figure it out on our own. The beliefs we hold dear are some sort of hodgepodge of whatever worked and whatever other people were saying - as the old sayings go - “Might makes right,” and “Truth is whatever your friends let you get away with saying.” The irony here is that deconstructionism, moral relativism and absolute skepticism are the kinds of hip-and-trendy platitudes of the self-described intellectuals of the 21st century. Contrarianism is another common way to come to firmly held beliefs. Do we come to our beliefs naturally, or was Calvinism right after all?

So I want to try and redefine propaganda, as redefining is a post-modern deconstructionist thing to do- propaganda is often a logically consistent simplification of an issue that relies on omission or downplaying of certain truths and exaggeration of other truths to create a desired outcome in the induvials exposed to that message. Sometimes these messages are spread by so called grassroots organizations or well meaning individuals. Sometimes the messages or the desired outcomes could be for your good or the common good, sometimes it is for some stupid distraction or a culture war. To reiterate - often there is perception of real problems in so called propaganda or deluded and radicalized groups. A lack of mutual trust and putting up divisions between groups is where the real problem lies. It may help to consider both sides of an issue. It may help to ask if you may be vilifying other groups - even that particular group that you may think deserves to be vilified. EVEN THEM. The challenge is humanizing the people who have been dehumanized, putting a face behind the person that is the posterchild of your outrage.

We all love a good villain because it makes a confusing world so much simpler. Some people bemoan the rising popularity of the anti-hero or the humanizing of villains in television such as Disney’s (tm) Maleficent, or even villainless films such as Encanto, but I really think it’s time for a hard think. We generally only have enemies if they think we are their enemy and vice versa. Learn to communicate before you escalate. Mutual trust and cooperation is preferable to mutual distrust. See the prisoner’s dilemma or Friend Or Foe. I don’t really believe that there are evil people or evil nations. Only through ignorance and lack of trust or respect do injustices occur, most people think they are acting out of their own self interest. I recommend vigilence against easy answers to tough moral questions, and avoiding vilifying your neighbor. Who really is evil?

#exvangelical #propaganda #nietsche

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earths-roots-grow-up · 3 years

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Headcanons on Russia’s and Prussia’s relationship with France.

Russia:

I think that in the XVIII century a large chunk of Europe had a crush on France. French culture was widespread among European courts and the language was being used to communicate in a similar manner English is used today. Frenchness was just very IN at that time.

Those countries included Russia. At that time Peter the Great was westernizing his country, and injecting French-ness into Russian lives was a part of this process - Versailles and the French court impressed Peter immensely when he went to visit France and when he came back home, he began emulating many things he observed in the western country. Language, customs, widespread mirrors everywhere, architecture, gardens. You name it.

High-born Russians would talk to each other in French and give themselves French names. Lets note that French wasn’t the only foreign language that was widespread in Russia, so were others, like German and Latin [mostly used by the academia.

“(...) of all the languages which began to have currency in eighteenth-century Russia, it was French that acquired the greatest social, cultural, and political significance,even if it was not always so widely spoken as German“.

The two next generations of Russians grew up within this Francophile culture and viewed it as something natural, from their perspective it was no longer an exotic fashion, just the way thing always were. Therefore, this was something more than just a fleeting fascination that lasted as long as Peter ruled - and had lingering influence on Russian culture.

“The most important stimulus for the development of French-speaking in Russia, though, was the use of French as a court language from around the middle of the reign of Peter’s daughter Elizabeth (1741–61), who had learnt it in childhood from a French lady at her father’s court.“

And so it went on from there: “At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Russian nobility still preferred French to Russian for everyday use, and were familiar with French authors such as Jean de la Fontaine, George Sand (etc.). The influence of France was equally strong in the area of social and political ideas. Catherine II's interest in the writings of the (french) philosophers of the Enlightenment (...) contributed to the spread of their ideas in Russia during the eighteenth century.” and “ During the nineteenth century, travel in France was considered a form of cultural and intellectual apprenticeship. “.

(source) So the interest in French ideas and culture was strong in the second half of the XVIII century and in the XIX century.

So in other words, Russia had a crush on France - it was a total puppy love mostly based on superficial things, like aesthetic, nice smells and pretty, elegant European opulence but most of all: France was the ideal of what Russia was trying to become, the epicenter of European-ness, the “civilization” and Ivan was in the middle of this lowkey cultural revolution in which he was trying to re-invent himself as a modern, “European” country. So I think this crush was very much one of those "I wanna BE YOU" types of crushes, he was head over heels for what France represented - that’s why this hit so hard.

There was some more personal stuff there too, like France's eloquence, his literature and philosophy. Enter a lot of perfumed love letters! Even when the crush slowly withered away Russia still felt - and feels - strong admiration for France and honestly enjoys his culture a lot.

France himself enjoyed the crush but wasn't really that interested in reciprocating - as mentioned above, large chunk of Europe was also crushing on him due to his culture just being in fashion, so it's not like Russia himself was standing out. But they did become friends and still have good personal relations with each other. They have a lot of passions in common, such as ballet, art, music, opera, Romanticism etc, so they still enjoy talking about this stuff together. It’s not a Deep friendship where they trust each other, don’t be fooled, they don’t trust one another at all! But they do like hanging out.

I also HC that the way both French and German were important in XVIII century Russia (as cited above: French with greater cultural significance and German more widespread) is representative of him catching feelings for both France and Prussia at this time, tho one of those wasn't just a crush.

Prussia:

My non-canon-approved hot take here is that I don't think him and France were ever friends. The exact opposite of that even.

It's true that Frederick the Great also had this hard-on for the French, and in effect Prussia speaks and writes excellent French. But after Frederick William II took over the throne, he took back all those Francophile preferences and began promoting German literature and language instead - something the educated classes of Prussia were thankful for. So because Russia shared his ruler's fascination with France his interest outlasted Peter the Great and became a more prevalent part of Russian culture for a long time, while Prussia never shared Fredrick’s fascination and therefore it got overturned as soon as the new king sat on the throne.

And that makes sense, bc in general Germans and French weren't very friendly with each other during their history. German- French enmity, also called the hereditary enmity, is an idea introduced in the XIX century, and it states that those two forces are natural enemies due to their inherently different goals and incompatible interests. Due tho this they keep bumping against each other throughout the ages. You can see echos of this sentiment it in the Napoleonic Wars, Franco-Prussian War, WW1, the Treaty of Versailles, WW2 etc. France was also the country that stood in the strongest opposition to the German Empire being created, so a big issue for Prussia.

It’s important to mention that this German-French enmity was often used as a propaganda tool for wars and simplified the complex relations between those two groups. Of course it did, even Austrian/Prussian relations weren’t ALWAYS bad, even tho they were called ‘the biggest enemies’ by historians.

It is believed that the enmity ended after WW2 and no longer is a thing. To me that is a pretty great example of Germany taking over the reign and replacing Prussia. Prussian/France relations were bad, but German/France relations are pretty darn good. And it makes sense, because Prussia had different goals than Germany has, and they are very different individuals. I see France and Germany as friends due to their shared work in UE, tho I’m not sure if they would be something more than just work friends.

Anyway, this is Hetalia and not a historical-political deep dive - to me what counts in Hedcanon context is the general feel throughout history: were they generally allies or enemies? Were their interests clashing with one another or were they compatible, most of the time at least? The whole idea behind this “inherited” enmity is that French and German interests were incompatible, so it had to end with a conflict. And they did, many times over. I feel like the importance of the Napoleonic wars especially is often undervalued here - it was a HUGE conflict that would have a lasting impact on their relations, way bigger than the Wars for Austrian Succession, which are often cited as proof of their friendship. But they were an outlier in general Prussian/French relations.

That’s why I think Prussia and France are not, nor ever were friends, they view each other as enemies and dislike each other. Tho during the reign of Old Fritz their relationship was warmer and more amicable than during other periods, considering they actually had similar goals and fought together for a change - mostly because that was convenient for then, not due to some preexisting friendship. But I do like the idea that during this time they had some kind of difficult comradery going for a brief while and there was this fleeting “maybe in another reality we could be friends” vibe.

Due to the bad history, Prussia's dislikes of France can be seen in many small things that irritate him, like he just detests Francis' need to show opulence, his over-the-top rococo aesthetic and cuture-esque fashion sense, hight emotionality drives him bonkers and even the pastel flowery color palettes he often wears irk him. And don’t even get his started on the Revolutions! He’ll talk your ear off.

Tl’Dr: So Prussia and France don't like each other and are generally bitchy and passive-aggressive with one another. Russia and France are friendly and good acquaintances, while not exactly close. Russia just likes him - he still admires a lot of things about French culture, enjoys the language, cuisine, architecture, fashion etc, and used to have a crush on him.

Rusprus take:

Prussia in a confident, self-assured person, but when it comes to France, he can be surprisingly self-conscious. He still remembers that crush Russia used to have on him and WHY he had it - because of many characteristics that France possesses, but Prussia doesn't. Like being romantic and sentimental, sensitive, emotionaly open, appreciative of beauty, artsy etc. Sometimes Russia finds that cute and endearing, bc it makes him feel wanted, but sometimes it's just... ridiculous.

APH Prussia: What do you wanna watch tonight, Vanka?

APH Russia: Hm... maybe that movie, Marie Antoinette?

APH Prussia: Ugh OF COURSE you wanna ogle HIM!

APH Russia: W... what.

APH Prussia: France! You wanna ogle that cheese-smelling frog-eater!

APH Russia: What... no! Gilya, Gilyushka, Gilynechka! That's absurd, I just want to watch a pretty period drama!

APH Prussia: Don’t you “Gilynechka“ me! And as if that's not enough...

APH Prussia: She was AUSTRIAN

APH Russia: Omg. Kill me now. When you have almost 1000 years of history together then even picking a Netflix show can be a minefield!

Anyway, they end up watching the movie but Prussia roasts everything in frame :D

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darwinforthewin · 3 years

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MODERN FIXATION

If you’re reading this, it’s too late. Your device has already taken you. It’s going to be up to you now how easy or hard it will be for you to fight the urge to stay on it. One thing is for sure, technology is inevitable. From the very moment you tried reading this, you were already enjoying the benefits of technology. You used technology to do something that you wanted. Besides, you wouldn’t even be reading this without technology. Everywhere you go, whatever you do, there is technology. Technology has already become an essential part of our everyday lives and whether you like it or not, social media is a huge part of it.

Now, social media is vitally useful in various ways. In fact, this is what helps us survive nowadays. Looking for jobs, finding solutions, deciding on what to eat, searching for a place to live, and most especially, getting connected with the people we know. Social media satisfies the needs of humans of having the desire of being part of something big. As a result of this, social media specifically produces identity that is akin to mob mentality allowing humans to be hyper-connected and unable to spend their time with real family and friends. (Koo, 2015).

For students like me, social media is a must. There is no way you can efficiently accomplish a group task without using social media. Students of today were raised in an increasingly media-rich environment. (Perse & Lambe, 2017). It is inevitable for them to use any form of media for communication, connection, research, and many more. However, this could lead students to the overuse of media for it will inevitably be part of their everyday needs. Social media users specifically Facebook users tend to admit their excessive normal, usual, or planned amounts of time online. (Koo, 2015) Certainly, social media users like me are unable to take control of their online activity; hence, leading them to have negative academic, professional, and social consequences.

Since technology plays an important role to me as a student, and to me as an individual, it is without a doubt that I need it every single day. With this, I can pretty much relate myself to the portrayals of young people using social media in the documentary The Social Dilemma. Even if it is not for the purpose of education, I still spend most of my time on my phone, if not, have my phone by my side, at all times of the day. This is because certain gadgets nowadays are most effectively and conveniently used for entertainment, communication, security, and most especially, for an emergency. Despite this, I grew up and was raised with the discipline to put limitations in everything. It has been part of the house rules that when we eat or when we spend time with family, we do not use our phones unless it is of great urgency and importance.

The documentary The Social Dilemma reveals an essential portion of what you need to know inside the digital space. You may not have known yet but technology is getting way bigger and more advanced than you could have ever imagined. Everything you see on social media, what you’re seeing now, what you’re reading, what you’re looking at – all these are just tiny fragments of what the internet actually is. The Social Dilemma presents you with the adverse effects of technology and how it can actually be used as a system of manipulation that leads people into believing something that is not true. Because of the freedom that we can access in social media, businesses and politicians tend to overexploit the platform which, in effect, they use to create false publicities and deceptive propaganda that results in an overall sense of illusion for the vulnerable users of social media. After all, social media itself is a form of business.

With the power of technology, I believe businessmen and politicians will continue to use it in the same way they are using it now. This is because technology has no limitations. As businesses, social media platforms earn through the running of advertisements. The only way they can grow their business further is to improve their method of revenue which is what they are doing now: use of cookies and personalization of advertisements. Anyhow, businesses need people and people need businesses. What makes the market mutually efficient for both parties is through the use of social media. As was mentioned in the documentary, people are the products of social media and that is how it really works. The time you spend on social media. which is the time you spend for your personal benefit, equates to earnings for the platform. Businesses will continue to advertise, whether it is for manipulation or promotion, because from the very nature of it that is how it works; this is explained by a common economic principle that nothing really is for free.

As for politicians, the spread of fake news and cyber propaganda is prevalent. However, I believe that it will not be as prevalent as what it is now in the future. This is because social media nowadays, especially Facebook, have developed a capability to detect news or articles that portray false news, misinformation, and any suspicious posts and activities. Facebook created Temporal Interaction EmbeddingS research (TIES) as an effort to improve its detection of fake accounts and misinformation and the enforcement regulations. This has enabled the company to eliminate more than 135 million fake accounts in April 2020. This may not have completely removed all existing fake news due to diverse engagement, but this serves as a stepping stone for Facebook and other social media platforms to build a system of rectification on the issue of information fallacies across the internet (Hutchinson, 2020). Therefore, yes, the politicians will still try to take advantage of technology in the future because they have the freedom to do so, but the movement has already begun for it to battle upon in this respect.

In the end, it may be beneficial for us to use technologies in our everyday lives but it is still part of our responsibilities to put certain limitations to it. Additionally, it is part of our due diligence to verify the information we encounter in the digital space. When you buy a certain product in the mall, you check whether it is fake or original before purchasing. This goes the same when you encounter articles, news, or any information on social media. You always have to verify the information before buying into it. This action must always be kept in mind when you browse the internet. Failure to do so can lead to detrimental repercussions that influence you and your decisions on life matters. Businesses and politicians will always try to play tricks on us but the only way we can push back against unethical practices of using social media is through our actions ourselves. Engaging our critical thinking skills and educating people about social media literacy are our best tools to defend ourselves from modern harm.

There are certain lines from the film that give a powerful impact. One of these lines is “If you’re not paying for the product, then you’re the product.” This statement is indeed agreeable. Like I said in the previous paragraphs, nothing is for free. Everything has an opportunity cost and trade-off which is an economic principle. Even when you say you have free lunch available at the canteen, falling in line to get it is the cost of it. This is why if you are not paying for a product, then you should already expect that something from you is taken in exchange. Another line from the film states that “There are only two industries that call their customers 'users': illegal drugs and software." To me, this can be associated with the same effect that comes with both industries: addiction. Both drugs and software impart chemicals that trigger the release of dopamine or our happy hormones from our brain. When we use drugs, our neurotransmitters from our brains detect a sense of pleasurable experience in which it changes the behavior of our brain in a way it increases the odds of us repeating the activity again and again; thus, it goes the same with our usage of the software.

There is another line from the film that I find to be agreeing with. It was the line that says “Social media is a marketplace that trades exclusively in human futures." This is evident from the many circumstances the film presented. The one reason why social media knows exactly how to keep you engaged on the platform is that they analyze your behavior pattern. And when they know the kind of behavior you have; they move on to advance their trading scheme. They sell your personal data and give them to large companies which is why there exist personalized advertisements as you scroll through your media feed. The last line from the film that hooked me is the statement: "The very meaning of culture is manipulation." Since our culture is filled with social media and the internet, it can be deduced that everything can now be tracked and monitored. People can now easily manipulate you into liking something or into having different sets of views, may this be in business or politics. As long as social media exist, so does manipulation. Our culture has become associated with the use of technology. It now depends on how we perceive information online that guides our beliefs and that what makes us who we are.

Personal SWOT Analysis Worksheet

Illustrated above is my personal SWOT Analysis. I would say that the political, economic, and social factors are crucial to my growth. Because of these factors, I can determine steps that I can take to maintain my sanity and to improve on what I am lacking. The technological factors play a significant influence on the political, economic, and social factors found in both of my opportunities and strengths. This is because technology boosts everything around you, most especially in a time of a pandemic. Although I cannot go out because of COVID-19, technology allows me to stay connected with my friends and keep myself updated with the nation’s news. Because of technology, distance learning has been integrated into educational institutions to continue the delivery of education to all students like me. However, technology also contributes to factors under threats. Technological factors reduce personal interaction and increase the odds of people getting influenced by fake news considering that people, nowadays, turn to social media to obtain news.

With all the aforementioned circumstances, I would say that there are similarities and differences between my personal assessment and what the documentary, The Social Dilemma, says about the influence of technology on our lives. In a similar aspect, both my assessment and the documentary have presented significant improvements in daily lives with technology such as communication, research, broadcasting, data exploration, labor, and many more especially in a time of difficulty. On the contrary, both my assessment and the documentary presented adverse effects of technology specifically on our mental health and decision-making. This just goes to prove that technology is not always what it seems.

References:

Hutchinson, A. (2020, August 26). Facebook Outlines New System for Detecting Fake Accounts and Misinformation Based on Interactions. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/facebook-outlines-new-system-for-detecting-fake-accounts-and-misinformation/584228/.

Perse, E. M., & Lambe, J. (2017). Media effects and society. London: Routledge.

Koo, G. S. (2015). Lights and Shadows of Digital Technologies. Makati City: Church Strengthening Ministry, Inc.

#TheSocialDilemma #DataRights #OwnYourData

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fairie-gothmother · 4 years

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In The Shadow of Starlight, Part 1: The Fall

A convoy of technical vehicles sped through the desert towards a recently sighted pillar of fire. Octavia looked out the vehicle’s backseat window as they raced toward a rising plume of smoke in the distance. The sun hovered just above the horizon. Orange light cast long shadows that stretched over the dust dunes. Pandora was beautiful when everything on it wasn’t trying to kill you.

It had only been four days since the Calypso Twins had stolen the powers of the legendary Firehawk. Four days! And the Crimson Raiders were responding to distress calls nonstop. Octavia had barely kicked her feet up after returning from the last one before she received the message to rejoin the convoy. Reports poured in from all across the planet. With their limited manpower, it was a struggle to keep up.

So much had changed recently between the warring factions. Octavia recapped the events in her head to keep things straight.

The Calypso Twins were self-proclaimed gods leading a cult called the Children of the Vault. Tryeen Calypso- one of six powerfully magical beings called sirens- could leech the life force from any living thing, draining them until nothing remained but a hollow husk. She managed to absorb the powers belonging to the commander of the Crimson Raiders, another siren named Lilith, famously known as the Firehawk.

Tyreen was having fun with her newly acquired powers by teleporting her brainwashed cultists around everywhere in a telltale pillar of fire, spreading their influence by broadcasting videos of their raids on the Echo net.

Troy Calypso was the propaganda mastermind who operated mostly behind the scenes, editing videos of murderous raids and turning them into slapstick jokes, air horns and all. His weapon of choice was an enormous sword wielded in a cybernetic arm. Although he spent most of his time out of the spotlight, Troy proved to be equally as brutal as his sister.

In short, the Calypsos were powerful monsters with hordes of mindless followers at their disposal, hell-bent on becoming the brightest stars in the sky while watching the universe burn at their feet.

The Crimson Raiders were doing everything they could to keep that from happening. That included Octavia. She fidgeted with the long sleeves of her shirt. Her anxiety sat heavy in her stomach like a chunk of eridium. She held up her arm to check the device attached to her wrist for what must have been the twelfth time. Straps secure, poison darts loaded, compression mechanism functional, safety off. Oops. She flicked the safety switch on and pulled her sleeve back over it. The last thing she needed was to accidentally shoot a poison dart at anyone.

She always hated being asked to come along on these calls. She wasn’t much of a fighter. Ah, who was she kidding? She was damn near useless. Octavia set her medical bag onto her lap to remind herself why they needed her there. The Crimson Raiders fought the bad guys, and Octavia patched up the good guys. She didn’t claim to be a doctor, nor was she legally allowed to. She was an herbalist. Ever since Dr. Zed went missing, Octavia stepped in as the primary medic. What she wouldn’t give to be back in her greenhouse right now.

Lilith looked back from the driver’s seat. “I know that look. Are you psyching yourself out?”

“As always. Is it that obvious?” Octavia thought she was holding herself together better than last time. Of course, Lilith always picked up on little things like that. Not much gets past the commander of the Crimson Raiders. Maybe intuition comes with the job.

Lilith smiled. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. We’ll clean up this mess and be back up in Sanctuary in no time.” Her golden eyes glinted as she drove, fiery red hair slightly muted with dust that settled everywhere on this planet. It was still strange to see uniformly fair skin on her arm which was once wrapped in blue glowing siren marks. No one called Lilith the Firehawk anymore, avoiding what that implied. Even though she was no longer a siren, she continued to live up to her legendary status.

The technical’s radio crackled. “We’re almost there,” said a female voice. “Let’s stop here outside the entrance.”

There already? Octavia looked out the window at the camp before them. Its high scrap metal fence made it impossible to see inside. The Children of the Vault were probably tearing the place apart shouting the Twin Gods’ praises.

Lilith picked up the radio’s microphone and responded, “Copy that, Maya.” The technical came to a stop. Lilith grabbed an SMG from the passenger’s seat. Turning once again to Octavia, she asked, “You ready?”

Octavia squeaked, “As ready as I’ll ever be.” She gulped in an attempt to force her heart down from her throat and opened the door.

Before them stood a rundown camp that looked abandoned. Smoke billowed from inside. It was relatively quiet. No bandits screaming, no gun fire, no explosions; just a distant metallic screech. Crimson Raider soldiers filed out of the technicals parked beside them.

Lieutenant Cramer stood at the ready. He was an older man that exuded pure military discipline. If you got out of line, he was the one to whip you back into shape. And he enjoyed doing it.

Maya’s electric blue hair and siren marks made her stand out like an orchid the desert. A hood was pulled over her head, coat flowing behind her in the breeze as she walked swiftly over to Lilith.

“Strange, it’s never this calm,” said Maya.

“Stay on your toes. By now, we should know better than to underestimate them,” Lilith warned.

Once the whole group gathered around, Lilith gave everyone their instructions. “Maya, you and I will stay outside with teams Beta and Charley. Octavia, wait in the technical, and be on standby. Lieutenant Cramer, take team Alpha through the front gate. Stay alert and keep an eye out for survivors. I wanna see everyone back in Sanctuary at the end of the day. Let’s do this.” The soldiers spread out. Lilith gave a nod to Lieutenant Cramer. The battle scarred veteran nodded in acknowledgement. He began giving orders to his team and used hand gestures that Octavia wasn’t familiar with.

Octavia climbed into the front seat of the technical as instructed. She took a deep breath steadying her nerves. She was definitely going to her greenhouse for some kragweed after this. The view from the windshield gave a better vantage point of the area. She gripped her dart gun concealed on her wrist, praying she wouldn’t have to use it.

Team Alpha was about to make their move when Cramer held up his fist signaling to halt. The screeching sound had grown so loud it made Octavia want to grind her teeth together. Maya held her hand in front of her, fingertips sparking and siren marks flaring to life. All eyes and guns were on the entrance prepared to meet what was about to emerge. Showtime. The gates swung open.

The hunched figure of a man limped out dragging a heap of machinery behind him. Wires sparked from the twisted metal as it scraped along the ground. Upon first glance, it was easy to miss that the machinery was actually attached to the man; a cybernetic arm that threatened to tear itself from the shoulder. Blood stained the dirt behind him in a dotted trail as he hobbled forward. The screeching stopped when the figure paused and looked up. Oh, shit.

Lilith’s eyes widened in horror. “What the hell,” she whispered under her breath.

Troy Calypso.

The once mighty God King himself stood before them in a mangled mess. He’d been stripped of his ornate coat and oversized sword. His ribs slid feebly beneath tanned skin as his breath rattled inside his bare chest. The iconic side-swooped hairstyle had fallen; his black hair soaked in blood and stuck to the side of his face. One side of his modified jaw slacked as if hanging from a broken hinge.

Octavia had briefly seen Troy in the cult’s live streams. Countless people died at this man’s hands as he laughed and broadcast their deaths. That same man now stood in front of them broken and bleeding, and Octavia was paralyzed with shock.

She jumped as Lilith broke the silence. Lilith called out to him, “What happened?”

Troy lifted his gaze. His icy blue eyes scanned across the teams of Raiders, passing over Octavia making her blood run cold. After focusing on Lilith, he cocked his head to the side and started to laugh which quickly turned into a wet cough. He gasped for air, then spat onto the ground. Gold capped canines glinted through a bloody smirk. “What, this?” He glanced down to his mechanical arm as it popped sending a shower of sparks bursting from it. “Ah, y’know. Got denounced, excommunicated, and left for dead in the middle of nowhere. How was your day?”

Lilith was stunned. She seemed to be at a loss for words at his flippant response. The expression on her face was more confusion than fear. Octavia wished she could say to same for herself.

Maya pressed further, “Excommunicated? Are you saying you got thrown out of the Children of the Vault?”

“Yeah, well. Guess I overstepped my boundaries with the God Queen. She labeled me a heretic, and our followers turned on me. Not really much I could do to fight back. Must be nice,” Troy pointed to Maya with his remaining human arm covered in unmistakable red glowing marks, “to be a functional siren.”

No, it couldn’t be. Troy Calypso was a siren? Octavia was far from being an expert, but it was common knowledge that sirens were always female. This would make the first male siren known in history. Male sirens were unheard of, thought to be impossible.

Maya lowered her voice to Lilith, speaking just loud enough for Octavia to overhear. “This doesn’t feel right. It could be a trap. What do we do?” They didn’t seem to be surprised at this revelation. Did they already know?

“I’m not sure. He’s in pretty bad shape. Do you think Tyreen would do this to her own brother to pull one over on us?” Lilith concluded.

‘Pretty bad shape’ was a drastic understatement. No one would willingly do this to themselves, especially someone as egocentric as Troy. Something was definitely off here. He must have done something pretty bad to get disowned and banished by his twin sister. Octavia shuddered at the thought.

Octavia jumped from the vehicle. Lilith and Maya turned to her after hearing her feet hit the dirt. “If he doesn’t get medical attention soon, he’s going to die,” Octavia interjected. “The COV is unpredictable, but I don’t think they’d go so far as to beat one of their Gods within an inch of his life just to trick us.” After receiving questioning looks, she added, “Th-that’s just my opinion.”

Lilith was quiet for a moment, deep in thought before reaching a decision. “Bring him in for questioning.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Maya’s voice echoed. After being shushed by Lilith, she continued in a strained whisper, “This guy is dangerous. There’s no way we can take him to Sanctuary. He could be lying.”

“Then we keep a close eye on him.” Lilith returned her attention to Troy. He hadn’t moved, standing in a growing pool of blood and oil. He simply waited for the Crimson Raiders to decide his fate as if he lacked the strength to do anything else. “Octavia, can you keep him from bleeding out?”

“Of course,” she responded. That was her job, and she was damn good at it. Although- “I don’t know much about cybernetics.”

“We should talk to Ellie. Luckily, she’s stationed at an outpost nearby. We’ll take Troy there until we can decide how to move forward,” said Lilith. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. We’ll figure it out.”

Maya stopped glaring as if she didn’t realize she was doing it. “Sorry,” she said and directed the glare at Troy instead.

What the hell were they getting into?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello, Tumblr! I hope you enjoyed part 1 of my new ‘In The Shadow Of Starlight’ series. Shout out to @border-spam for the Calypso Twins Prompts. ‘Heretic’ was such a huge inspiration that it influenced me to create an entire story of my own. (All the shorts can also be found on their AO3.) I will post a few more chapters regardless, but if enough of you like the series, I’ll keep it going.

Thanks for reading my garbage!

#troy calypso #borderlands3 #redemption #fanfic #fanfiction #Troy #calypso #au #in the shadow of starlight

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sockparade · 4 years

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tips for surviving the pandemic: things i learned from my immigrant parents

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been a little over a week since the WHO announced that the coronavirus (COVID-19) was officially a pandemic. This has been a long, challenging week for a lot of people and it is nothing short of terrifying to read reports of what is happening in Asia and Europe as many predict that we’ll likely endure a similar fate here in the United States. In the midst of all of this chaos and uncertainty, I’ve been reminded of so many lessons that my Taiwanese immigrant parents taught me. I’m sharing them here so that others might also benefit. Thanks Ma. Thanks Daddy.

你昨天已經出去了.

“You already went out yesterday.“

1. Learn how to stay home. Our family is eight days into self-isolating at home and Tony asked me this morning if I had cabin fever. And strangely, the answer is no. I’m not. Not to downplay the difficulty of this moment but my experience with this “shelter-in-place” ordinance reminds of pretty much all my summers between kindergarten and 8th grade. Both of my parents worked full-time so summer was just three blissful months of nothing. No structure, no plans, no camps, no playdates, and no responsibilities. My parents never made me feel like I was missing a thing by staying home and I don’t remember ever feeling bored. There were always library books to read, stories to write, and thoughts to journal. Hours were spent playing school with my big sister (now a first grade teacher!), making up random games like who can avoid touching the carpet longest, learning Kim Zmeskal’s latest gymnastics floor routine, writing lyrics to Kenny G saxophone solos, and rehearsing for our variety show that we would perform to our tired parents at the end of the day. And that’s not even including the hours we spent watching The Price is Right, CHIPS, Knight Rider, and Airwolf (yep, no cable).

As a teenager I carefully plotted all my hangouts with friends so that I didn’t have too many consecutive days when I was out of the house. Whenever I asked my parents if I could hang out with friends, they would always say, “But you already went out yesterday. What’s wrong with staying home? Why do you always have to go out?” It was as if having too much fun two days in a row was off limits. If there was a big party on Friday, I would purposely make sure I stayed home Wednesday and Thursday just to increase the chances of being able to go out on Friday. I know a lot of people talk about how awful their high school years were but I was one of those lucky kids who had a really great group of friends that made me feel seen, loved, and cared for. The downside was that I couldn’t get enough of it. I was always thinking about the next hangout, the next event, the next thing. It took me all the way until my late twenties to fully appreciate the fine art of staying home and to finish my unexpected transformation into the expert homebody that I am today.

I’m reminded of that old quote by Blaise Pascal, “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone."

It’s great to be out and about, but it’s also really important to learn how to stay home.

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晚上要吃什麼？清冰箱.

“What are we eating for dinner?” “Cleaning the fridge.”

2. Be creative with what you have. I love food. Not in a foodie sense, but I get a lot of pleasure out of eating. I’m not a food snob by any stretch of the imagination. I thoroughly enjoy a Stouffer’s frozen lasagna or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as much as I enjoy a fancy, inventive, Michelin-starred meal at Commis. What’s hard for me is when food is eaten as sustenance rather than with delight. But my parents taught me that you can always take pride in preparing a meal. No matter your ingredients.

My mom is an excellent cook. I know a lot of people think their mom is a good cook but my mom is legitimately skilled in the kitchen. There were some nights when I’d ask what was for dinner and my mom would just reply, “Cleaning the fridge.”

Now for some, this might sound terrifying. But my mom could honestly make something out of nothing. I still crave my dad’s simple egg and garlic fried rice. My parents raised me to be able to make an tasty meal just from rummaging in the pantry and fridge for random leftover things. There were plenty of summers where lunches and snacks were an individual culinary adventure for each of us kids. I still remember the day I witnessed my baby sister add a Kraft single on top of her onion ramen noodles. She saw my confusion, shrugged and said, “You should try it, it’s good.”

With all the hoarding folks have been doing during this pandemic, I’ve found myself feeling quite anxious. Trying to calculate if we have enough food. Estimating how many more meals we can eat at home before we need to make another grocery run. As someone who struggles with a scarcity mentality it has been hard not to panic. But then I keep reminding myself that I know how to make good food using just whatever’s available.

You know, I was pretty disappointed with Mary H.K. Choi’s second novel, Permanent Record, given how much I enjoyed her debut novel, Emergency Contact. But I was absolutely thrilled with the shine she gave to what her protagonist calls “Hot Snacks”.

Here’s an excerpt from Permanent Record that is a beautiful ode to creative food mashups and immigrant kids everywhere:

“I edit and post a Shin Ramyun Black video set to music. My favorite instant noodles with three flavor packets and so much garlic. It’s a classic Korean HotSnack, especially when you throw in cut-up hot dogs, frozen dumplings, extra kimchi - and this is where the artistry comes in- eggs, cheese, corn from a can, and a drizzle of sesame oil on top. And furikake if you’re feeling wealthy. The next night I put up a bacon, egg, and cheese not in a bagel but in a glazed honey bun. Laced with sriracha and pan fried on the outside. Then it’s chilaquiles with Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos and chorizo. Jamaican beef patty casserole disrespected with a smothering of Japanese curry and broiled. With Crystal Hot Sauce over the top and pickled banana peppers. I’m trolling with that one but the controversy is berserk. When I run out of old videos, I make saag paneer naanchos with Trader Joe’s frozen Indian food, and it’s a hit. Especially when I add yogurt and a thick layer of crushed-up Takis on top.”

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看連續劇.

“Watch soap operas.”

3. Find a way to escape. I’m generally pro technology but I’ll admit I’m a little bummed at the way iPhones and iPads have made TV viewing such an individual activity. I like how Disney+ has gotten some families back to watching TV together again. Although I will say, we really coddle our kids these days. I grew up in a time when movie ratings only applied in the theaters and we watched movies with our families like Alien, The Fly, and Gremlins. We were scared out of our minds and sometimes could only watch through the cracks between our fingers covering our eyes because it was so scary. Okay, this also might be why I can’t watch horror movies as an adult.

From a young age, my parents taught me that watching other people’s drama unfold on screen is one of the best way to escape your own drama. Some people say binge watching became a thing when the TV networks started releasing shows on DVD. Others give credit to Netflix releasing their original content a whole season at a time. But truth be told, I first learned how to binge watch from my parents.

We would rent 30-40 VHS cassette tapes from that random spot in Bellaire Chinatown. Can you picture it? You needed multiple plastic bags to transport that many VHS tapes.

Do you remember the one about the dying mother who needed to find homes for each of her 7 children? I don’t think it’s normal for a 10 year old to cry so much but you better believe it’s made me learn the true value of a soap opera escape hatch.

Are you in a pandemic? Now’s the perfect time to pick up that YA novel, binge that reality show, start that kdrama, or rewatch all six seasons of The Sopranos again.

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下個禮拜會下雨.

“It’s going to rain next week.”

4. Be informed about what’s ahead. If you ask either of my parents about the weather at any given time they can reliably tell you the daily percent chance of precipitation and humidity for at least seven days out. They’ve always been this way. They would inform me of the weather at various points throughout the week. They planned their yard work and car washes around the weather forecast. There’s something about the way the weather forecast is available to everyone. And it feels like it’s just a matter of making the small extra effort to access it and gain a slight advantage. I feel like so much of the immigrant mentality is to be diligent in making the right choices to not screw yourself over and seizing opportunities whenever you can. And it wasn’t just weather but this is such an obvious example of it.

I remember my dad saying to me once, "Can you imagine if someone decided to read every book in their local library? If they just went shelf by shelf and systematically read all the books? You could do it, you know. It’s free, it doesn’t cost any money to check out a book from the library. But no one really does it.”

I think immigrant parents get a bad reputation for forwarding chain letters and health/science hoaxes they get on email, WeChat and Line. And in a pandemic, yes, they are definitely susceptible to misinformation, rumors and flat out untruths. But the thought behind it seems right.

The mistrust of government leadership is actually quite relevant right now in this pandemic. Many immigrants left countries with governments that were overtly corrupt, oppressive, and used propaganda to influence its citizens. And while many Americans still take pride in living in a country that verbally champions freedom and democracy, the truth is that our government has already failed us and lied to us in many ways. During this pandemic, we cannot wait on leaders to tell us what to do. We must be diligent in reading for ourselves, seeking experts, using our critical thinking skills, and making preparations accordingly.

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會不會冷?

“Are you cold?”

5. Check in with yourself. Check in with others. I have so many memories of my parents walking through the living room and asking me and my sisters if we were cold. It felt like they couldn’t walk past the thermostat without asking us if they needed to raise it or lower it. As if they couldn’t hear us sneeze and wonder if they needed to turn off the ceiling fan. They couldn’t see us sitting in a dim room without turning on a light for us. There are so many times I fell asleep reading on the couch and woke up with a blanket over me. Or sometimes I was fully awake doing something random, like playing Egyptian Rat Screw with my sisters (a cardgame for the uninitiated), and my mom would walk by and wordlessly drop a warm, heavy blanket over my shoulders. That’s care, y’all. Consistent, immediate action, and often without words.

The tip here is to pay attention to your discomfort during a pandemic. There’s this immigrant stereotype of stoicism and that’s true to some degree but maybe the resilience is made possible not because of unnatural toughness but largely because immigrant parents can also be so incredibly perceptive and tender in some very tangible ways.

When everything is chaotic around you and you’re busy multitasking these next few months, don’t ignore your needs. Notice how you’re feeling. Physically and emotionally. Where are you carrying your stress and tension in your body? You don’t have to tough it out. Oh and remember to check in with your people on how they’re feeling. Is there a light switch you can turn on for someone?

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笑死人.

“Laugh to death.”

6. Laugh to survive. Look, we didn’t have the perfect family or anything like that. We’ve definitely had our share of difficult times, financial stress, health issues, arguments, and pain. But my parents also really knew how to laugh and taught us to laugh with abandon. Like, bent over, tears running out of your eyes, can’t breathe kind of laughing. Our dinner table was kind of like a writer’s room. It was difficult to tell a mediocre story. You had better come prepared with a punchline or a point. It was a tough crowd, every night. On many occasions I stopped myself halfway through a story upon the self-realization that there was no real way to land the plane. Polite laughs were nowhere to be found, except perhaps a charitable smile from my baby sister. But it didn’t stop us from trying. I think my sisters and I are all probably better storytellers for it and we definitely have learned to try to bring humor into difficult times.

I know that this pandemic is so incredibly dark and depressing that it can sometimes feel disrespectful, inappropriate, or childish to laugh at anything. But my parents taught me that you laugh to survive. Nothing is ever so dark that you can’t find a reason to laugh. And sometimes you really need to find something to laugh about.

I’ve been taking long breaks each day from major media news outlets but I have been finding such joy and laughter from the meme creators on IG and the comedic geniuses on Twitter. In Taiwanese when something’s really funny, people will say a phrase that is imperfectly translated as laugh to death. Like you killed a person it was so funny. Now’s the time to find that content or those people who will get you to laugh to death.

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我要去挪車.

“I’m going to go re-park the cars.”

7. Go to bed with a plan for the next morning. I grew up in a suburb of Houston, Texas where one property developer built the entire neighborhood and used the same eight or nine floor plans for all the houses but changed up the brick and trim color to keep things interesting. Most homes have a long driveway that connects a garage set near the backdoor of a home to the street. By the time I was driving, we had four cars in total -- two in the garage and two on the driveway. At the end of the day when everyone was home for the night and my dad was getting ready to go to bed, he’d announce, “I’m going to go re-park the cars.” Then we’d all kind of stop what we were doing and rearrange the order of the cars to match our morning departure schedules. This meant figuring out who was leaving when in the morning and sometimes also prompted brief check-in conversations about any changes in our usual routine.

In a pandemic it can sometimes feel like there are a million different things to attend to and large conceptual concerns that demand your attention. But there’s something calming and centering about spending a few minutes each night thinking through specifically what needs to happen just tomorrow. Not the day after or next week. Get super tactical and specific about what tomorrow morning looks like. Check-in with your partner about any aberrations to your schedule (e.g. I have a super important conference call at 7am tomorrow) to minimize any unnecessary surprises. There’s something magical about setting up your morning that helps you rest just a little easier at night.

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星期三我們有禱告會.

“On Wednesdays we have prayer meeting.”

8. Make time for your spirituality. Growing up my parents both had physically demanding jobs. My mom was a seamstress for many years, providing alterations at my aunt and uncle’s dry cleaners. She later worked in an elementary school cafeteria and then eventually became a classroom aide for special needs students. My dad worked at that same dry cleaners for years until he got a job at the post office. He then became a letter carrier, delivering mail on foot. The summer months were especially grueling, carrying a heavy sack of mail in 100 degree, humid weather, and walking until sweat soaked his shirts and blisters formed on his feet. They had every excuse to skip weeknight events. But unless they were sick in bed, I can’t remember a time when they missed their weekly prayer meeting with their friends from church.

Pandemics have an unsettling way of forcing us to confront our mortality and can trigger a bunch of unresolved shit that has been bubbling underneath the surface. We’ve lost some of our usual coping mechanisms and it can be super hard to quiet the anxieties, fears, and other demons that we usually try to keep under control. This isn’t a lecture about a particular faith or belief system. It’s just a reminder to prioritize your existential questions, your interior life, and your connection to things much bigger than yourself -- whether that’s a community, a yoga practice, a faith group, a tradition, or something else.

I have a fledgling meditation practice that I’ve been trying to strengthen since last year. When I say fledgling I mean that sometimes I bail before the ten minutes is up and check my phone. Even though I’m not very good at it yet, I can really tell the difference on the days that I make time for it. Our church started hosting its weekly Sunday service online and that’s challenging for me because a church service feels like it’s designed to be so much about the physical rhythm of going to a place, seeing faces of people I love, hearing their voices co-mingling with mine in song and in prayer, and tasting the bread and wine in my mouth. The online service was short, and just for viewing through a zoom conference call, but there was still something meaningful about setting aside that time Sunday morning, asking our wiggly kids to be present, and saying the liturgy out loud knowing that in homes all across the country, other people are doing the same.

If things are really going to get as bad as some are predicting, we’ll need the spiritual strength to make it to the other side. Those habits are hard to form overnight. My parents taught me that you really have to make the time for your spirituality non-negotiable, so that you won’t abandon it when it’s inconvenient or when you are too tired.

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沒辦法.

“What choice do we have?”

9. Rise to the occasion. Whenever my parents are telling old war stories about things they had to do to get to where they are today, inevitably one of us will say, “Man that’s crazy, how did you manage to do it?” And instead of pointing to some super personality trait of theirs or some complex self-help principle, they always say, “We had no choice.” It’s not said in a defeated way, but in a posture of accepting that life can be cruel, unfair, and capricious. And that it’s not helpful to dwell too long on the why’s and how’s. My parents taught me that you can’t stay in despair mode. You eventually have to push yourself into problem solving mode and you do whatever it takes to move forward.

This coronavirus is so unlike anything we’ve ever experienced in our lifetime. It is so unprecedented for me that my brain is having a hard time processing the reality of what’s happening right now and the rest of my lived experience. I spent the first few days of this week just being overwhelmed, anxious, angry, and irritable. At this point though, I’m in go mode. I’m doing what needs to be done for our family and taking care of business. What choice do we have? I can hear my parents saying it. One day, if we’re lucky, we’ll say it to our kids too.

#coronavirus #immigrants #immigrant parents #survival tips #advice #covid-19 #pandemic #childhood #lifelessons

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justforbooks · 4 years

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The End of Communism in Russia Meant the End of Democracy in the West

Alexander Zinoviev, along with Solzhenitsyn and Sakharov, was one of the three great intellectual giants who became dissidents during the late Soviet period.

This remarkable and prophetic interview was originally published in 1999 in the French Figaro Magazine. Its original title was: ”The West and Russia – A Controlled Catastrophe”

Q. With what feelings are you returning home after such a long exile?

A. With a feeling that I once left a strong, respected, even awe-inspiring power. Returning now, I found a defeated country in ruins. Unlike others, I would never have left the USSR if I had had a choice. Emigration was a real punishment for me.

Q. Nevertheless, you were welcomed with open arms here! (in Germany – Ed. Note)

A. That is true… But despite the triumphant recognition and the worldwide success of my books, I have always felt like a stranger here.

Q. After the collapse of communism the Western system has become the main focus of your research. Why?

A. Because what happened was what I had predicted: the fall of communism turned into the breakup of Russia.

Q. So the fight with communism was a conspiracy to destroy Russia?

A. Precisely. I say this because once I was an unwitting accomplice of this action that I found shameful. The West wanted and programmed the Russian catastrophe. I read documents and participated in the research, which under the guise of ideological struggle worked towards the destruction of Russia. This became so unbearable for me that I could no longer stay in the camp of those who destroy my people and my country. The West is not a stranger to me, but I consider it an enemy empire.

Q: Have you become a patriot?

A: Patriotism does not concern me. I received an international upbringing and I remain loyal to it. I cannot even say whether I love Russians and Russia or not. I am part of them. Today’s suffering of my people is so horrible that I cannot stand watching them from afar. The barbarity of globalization manifests itself in many diverse, unacceptable ways.

Q: Nevertheless, many former Soviet dissidents speak about their former homeland as a country of human rights and democracy. Now that this point of view has become commonly accepted in the West, you are trying to refute it. Isn’t there a contradiction here?

A: During the Cold War, democracy was a weapon in the fight against communist totalitarianism. Today we understand that the Cold War era was the history of the West’s apogee. During that time the West had it all: unprecedented growth of wealth, true freedom, incredible social progress, colossal scientific and technological achievements. But at the same time the West was imperceptibly changing. The timid integration of developed countries launched at that time has developed into the internationalization of the economy and the globalization of power that we are witnessing now. Integration may help the growth of common good and have a positive impact if it is driven by the legitimate aspiration of fraternal people to unite, for example. But the integration in question was conceived from the beginning as a vertical structure strictly controlled by a supranational power. Without a successful Russian counter-revolution against the Soviet Union, the West could not have started the process of globalization.

Q: So, the role of Gorbachev was not positive?

A: I look at things from a slightly different angle. Contrary to common belief, Soviet communism did not collapse because of internal reasons. Its collapse is certainly the greatest victory in the history of the West. An unheard of victory which, let me say it again, can establish a unitary power monopoly on a planetary scale. The end of communism also signalized the end of democracy. The modern epoch is not only post-communist, it is also post-democratic! Today we are witnessing the establishment of democratic totalitarianism, or, if you will, totalitarian democracy.

Q: Does not it all sound a little absurd?

A: Not at all. Democracy requires pluralism and pluralism implies an existence of at least two more or less equal forces which oppose each other and at the same time influence each other. During the Cold War there was world democracy, global pluralism, with two opposing systems: capitalist and communist, plus other countries with an amorphous system which belonged to neither. Soviet totalitarianism was sensitive to Western criticism. In turn, the Soviet Union influenced the West, in particular through the latter’s own communist parties. Today we live in a world dominated by one single force, one ideology and one pro-globalization party. All of this together began to take shape during the Cold War, when superstructures gradually appeared in various forms: commercial, banking, political and media organizations. Despite their different fields of activity, what they had in common was essentially their transnational scope. With the collapse of communism they began to rule the world. Thus, Western countries ended up in the dominant position, but at the same time they are now in a subordinate position as they gradually lose their sovereignty to what I call the supra-society. The planet-wide supra-society consists of commercial and non-commercial organizations whose influence extends far beyond individual states. Like other countries, the Western countries are subordinated to these supranational structures. This is despite the fact that the sovereignty of states was also an integral part of pluralism and hence of democracy on a global scale. Today’s ruling supra-power suppresses sovereign states. The European integration unfolding in front of our very eyes is also leading to the disappearance of pluralism within this new conglomerate in favor of supranational power.

Q: But do not you think that France and Germany remain democracies?

A: Western countries got to know true democracy during the Cold War. Political parties had genuine ideological differences and different political programs. The media also differed from each other. All this had an impact on the lives of ordinary people contributing to the growth of their wealth. Now this has come to an end. A democratic and prosperous capitalism with socially oriented laws and job security was in many ways thanks to a fear of communism. After the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, a massive attack on the social rights of citizens was launched in the West. Today the socialists who are in power in most European countries are pursuing policies of dismantling the social security system, destroying everything that was socialist in the capitalist countries. There is no longer a political force in the West capable of protecting ordinary citizens. The existence of political parties is a mere formality. They will differ less and less as time goes on. The war in the Balkans was anything but democratic. Nevertheless, the war was perpetrated by the socialists who historically have been against these kinds of ventures. Environmentalists, who are in power in some countries, welcomed the environmental catastrophe caused by the NATO bombings. They even dared to claim that bombs containing depleted uranium are not dangerous for the environment, even though soldiers loading them wear special protective overalls. Thus, democracy is gradually disappearing from the social structure of the West. Totalitarianism is spreading everywhere because the supranational structure imposes its laws on individual states. This undemocratic superstructure gives orders, imposes sanctions, organizes embargos, drops bombs, causes hunger. Even Clinton obeys it. Financial totalitarianism has subjugated political power. Emotions and compassion are alien to cold financial totalitarianism. Compared with financial dictatorship, political dictatorship is humane. Resistance was possible inside the most brutal dictatorships. Rebellion against banks is impossible.

Q: What about a revolution?

A: Democratic totalitarianism and financial dictatorship rule out the possibility of social revolution.

Q: Why?

A: Because they combine omnipotent military power with a financial stranglehold. All revolutions received support from outside. From now on this is impossible because there are no sovereign states, nor will there be. Moreover, at the lowest level the working class has been replaced with the unemployed class. What do the unemployed want? Jobs. Therefore, they are in a less advantageous position than the working class of the past.

Q: All totalitarian systems had their own ideology. What is the ideology of the new society you call post-democratic?

A: The most influential Western thinkers and politicians believe that we have entered the post-ideological epoch. This is because by “ideology” they mean communism, fascism, nazism, etc. In reality, the ideology, the super-ideology of the Western world, developed over the last fifty years is much stronger than communism or national socialism. A western citizen is being brainwashed much more than a soviet citizen ever was during the era of communist propaganda. In ideology, the main thing is not the ideas, but rather the mechanisms of their distribution. The might of the Western media, for example, is incomparably greater than that of the propaganda mechanisms of the Vatican when it was at the zenith of its power. And it is not only the cinema, literature, philosophy – all the levers of influence and mechanisms used in the promulgation of culture, in its broadest sense, work in this direction. At the slightest impulse all who work in this area respond with such consistency that it is hard not to think that all orders come from a single source of power. It was enough to decide to stigmatize General Karadžić or President Milošević or someone else for the whole planetary propaganda machine to start working against them. As a result, instead of condemning politicians and NATO generals for violation of all existing laws, the vast majority of Western citizens is convinced that the war against Serbia was necessary and just. Western ideology combines and mixes ideas based on its needs. One of these ideas is that Western values and lifestyle are the best in the world! Although for most people on the planet these values have disastrous consequences. Try to convince Americans that these values will destroy Russia. You will not be able to. They will continue to assert the thesis of universalism of Western values, therefore following one of the fundamental principles of ideological dogmatism. Theorists, politicians and media of the West are absolutely sure that their system is the best. That is why they impose it around the world without a doubt and with a clear conscience. Western man as the carrier of these highest values is therefore a new superman. The term itself is a taboo, but It all comes down to this. This phenomenon should be studied scientifically. But I dare to say that it has become extremely difficult to conduct scientific research in some areas of sociology and history. The scientist who desires to research mechanisms of democratic totalitarianism will face extreme difficulties. He will be made into an outcast. On the other hand, those whose research serves the dominant ideology are flooded with grants while publishing houses and media are fighting for the right to work with such authors. I have personally experienced it when I have been teaching and working as a researcher at foreign universities.

Q: Does not this super-ideology you dislike, have ideas of tolerance and respect for others?

A: When you listen to representatives of the Western elite, everything seems so pure, generous and respectful to people. Doing so they use the classic rule of propaganda: hide the reality behind sweet talk. However it is enough to turn on the TV, go to the movies, open a bestselling book or listen to popular music to realize the opposite: the unprecedented dissemination of the cult of violence, sex and money. Noble speeches are designed to hide these three (and there are more) pillars of totalitarian democracy.

Q: What about human rights? Is it not the West who honors them the most?

A: From now on the idea of human rights is increasingly under pressure. Even the purely ideological thesis that these rights are intrinsic and inseparable today will not sustain even the first stage of a thorough analysis. I am ready to subject Western ideology to the same scientific analysis that I did with communism. But this is a long conversation, not for today’s interview.

Q: Does Western ideology have a key idea?

A: The idea of globalization! In other words, world domination! Since this idea is rather unpleasant, it is hidden under lengthy phrases about planetary unity, transformation of the world into one integrated whole… In reality, the West has now commenced work on structural changes across the whole planet. On the one hand Western society dominates the world, on the other hand it itself is being rebuilt vertically with the supranational power on the very top of the pyramid.

Q: World government?

A: Yes, if you will.

Q: To believe in it, doesn’t that mean to be a victim of delusional fantasies about global conspiracy?

A: What conspiracy? There is no conspiracy. The world government is controlled by the heads of well known supranational economic, financial and political structures. According to my estimates, this super-society, now ruling the world, has about fifty million people. Its center is the United States. The countries of Western Europe and some former Asian “dragon” countries are its basis. Other countries are dominated under a tight financial and economic ranking. This is the reality. Regarding propaganda, it presumes that the creation of world government under control of the world parliament is desirable because the world is a big brotherhood. All these are just stories designed for the plebs.

Q: The European Parliament as well?

A: No, because the European Parliament exists. But it is naive to believe that the European Union was a result of the good will of the governments of the member states. The European Union is a weapon for the destruction of national sovereignties. It is part of the projects developed by supranational organisms.

Q: The European commonwealth changed its name after the collapse of the Soviet Union. As if to replace the Soviet Union, it was called the “European Union”. After all, it could be called differently. Like bolsheviks, European leaders call themselves commissioners. LIke bolsheviks they head commissions. The last president was “elected” being the only candidate …

A: We must not forget that the process of social organization is subject to certain rules. To organize a million people is one thing, to organize ten million is another, to organize a hundred million is a very hard task. To organize five hundred million people is a task of colossal proportions. It is necessary to create new administrative bodies, to train people who will manage them and to ensure their smooth functioning. This is the primary task. In fact, the Soviet Union is a classic example of a multinational conglomerate led by a supranational management structure. The European Union wants to achieve better results than the Soviet Union! That is justified. Even twenty years ago I was stunned by the fact that so-called flaws of the Soviet system were even more developed in the West.

Q: Like what?

A: Planning! The Western economy is infinitely more planned than the economy of the USSR was ever planned. Bureaucracy! In the Soviet Union 10 to 12% of the active population worked in the country‘s management and administration field. In the US this number is 16 to 20%. However the USSR was criticized for its planned economy and the burden of bureaucratic apparatus. Two thousand people worked in the Central Committee of the Communist Party. The Communist Party apparatus reached 150 thousand workers. Today in the West you will find dozens, even hundreds of enterprises in industrial and banking sectors employing more people. The bureaucratic apparatus of the Soviet Communist Party was negligibly small compared with the staff of large transnational corporations of the West. In fact, we must recognize that the USSR was mismanaged because of the lack of administrative staff. It was necessary to have two to three times more administrative workers! The European Union is well aware of these problems and therefore takes them into account. Integration is impossible without an impressive administrative apparatus.

Q: What you say is contradictory to the ideas of liberalism promoted by European leaders. Do you not think that their liberalism is just a show?

A: The administration has a tendency to grow greatly which is dangerous in itself. It knows that. Like any organism it finds antidotes to continue its normal functioning. A private initiative is one of them. Another antidote is social and individual morality. Applying them, power fights self-destructive tendencies. So it invented liberalism to create a counterweight to its own gravity. Today, however, it is absurd to be a liberal. The liberal society no longer exists. The liberal doctrine does not reflect the realities of the unprecedented era of concentration of capital. The movement of huge financial resources does not take into accounts the interests of individual states and peoples consisting of individuals. Liberalism implies a personal initiative and taking of financial risks. Today any business needs money provided by banks. These banks, whose numbers are diminishing, implement a policy which is by its nature dictatorial and manipulative. Business owners are at their mercy because everything is subject to lending and therefore is under the control of financial institutions. The importance of the individual – the basis of liberalism – is reduced day by day. Today it does not matter who heads this or that company, this or that country: Bush or Clinton, Kohl or Schröder, Chirac or Jospin, what is the difference?

Q: The totalitarian regimes of the 20th century were extremely cruel, which cannot be said about Western democracy.

A: It’s not the means that are important, but the end result obtained. Would you like an example? In the struggle against Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union lost 20 million people (according to the latest figures of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation – 27 million. – Ed. Note) and suffered tremendous destruction. During the Cold War, a war without bombs and guns, there were a lot more losses any way you look at it! Over the last decade the life expectancy of Russians dropped by ten years! The death rate is much higher than the birth rate. Two million children do not sleep at home. Five million school-age children do not attend school. There are 12 million registered drug addicts. Alcoholism has become universal. 70% of young people are not suitable for military service due to various physical defects. These are the direct consequences of the defeat in the Cold War, followed by a transition to a Western lifestyle. If this continues, the population will drop rapidly at first from 150 million to 100 million, and then to 50 million. Democratic totalitarianism will surpass all previous totalitarian regimes.

Q: Through violence?

A: Drugs, poor nutrition, and AIDS are much more effective than military violence. Although after the immense force of destruction of the Cold War, the West invented a “humanitarian war”. The military campaigns in Iraq and Yugoslavia are two examples of collective punishment and retaliation on an exceedingly large scale, while the propaganda machine shapes them as a “good cause” or a “humanitarian war”. Turning the victims of violence against themselves is another, different approach. An example of its use is the Russian counter-revolution of 1985. However, when they unleashed the war in Yugoslavia, the countries of Western Europe led war against themselves.

Q. In your opinion, the war against Serbia was also a war against Europe?

A. Absolutely right. In Europe there are forces that can compel it to act against itself. Serbia was chosen because it resisted the ever-expanding globalization. Russia could be next on the list. Before China…

Q: In spite of its nuclear arsenal?

A: Russia’s nuclear arsenal is huge, but it is outdated. Besides, the Russians are morally disarmed and ready to surrender… I believe that the monstrosity of the 21st century will surpass everything that mankind has seen to this day. Just think about the coming global war on Chinese communism. To defeat such a populous country one will need not exterminate around 500 million people, not 10 or 20 million. Today, given the level of excellence of the propaganda machine, it is quite possible. Naturally, in will be done in the name of freedom and human rights. Unless, of course, some PR organization invents a new and no less noble a cause.

Q: Don’t you think that people can have their own opinions, and that they can vote and thus express themselves?

ANSWER. First of all, even now people don’t vote that often, and they will vote even less in the future. With regard to public opinion in the West it is shaped by the media. Suffice it to recall the universal approval of the war in Kosovo. Remember the Spanish war! Volunteers from all over the world traveled to that country to fight on one side or the other. Remember the war in Vietnam. But these days, people are so well shepherded that they react only the way that the purveyors of propaganda want them to.

Q: The Soviet Union and Yugoslavia were the most multi-ethnic countries in the world, but they were destroyed nevertheless. Do you see a connection between the destruction of multiethnic countries, on the one hand, and the promotion of multi-ethnicity on the other hand?

A: Soviet totalitarianism created a genuinely multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society. It was the Western democracies that made superhuman efforts to fan the flames of various kinds of nationalism, because they considered the breakup of the Soviet Union as the best way to destroy it. The same mechanism worked in Yugoslavia. Germany had always sought the obliteration of Yugoslavia. United, Yugoslavia could strengthen its resistance. The essence of the Western system is to divide in order to make it easier for the West to impose its laws on all parties, and then act as Chief Justice. There is no reason to assume that this know-how will not be applied in relation to the dismemberment of China in the future.

Q: India and China voiced their opposition to the bombing of Yugoslavia. If needed, could they form a core of resistance? After all, 2 billion people are no joke!

A: The means of those countries cannot in any way be compared with the military might and technological superiority of the West.

Q: Were you impressed by the effectiveness of the US military arsenal in Yugoslavia?

A: Not only that. If such a decision had been made, then Serbia would have ceased to exist within a few hours. Apparently, the leaders of the new world order have chosen a strategy of permanent violence. Numerous localized conflicts will now keep igniting one after another so that the “humanitarian war” machine, which we have already seen in action, could keep extinguishing them. In fact, this is likely to become the solution to extending control over the entire planet. The West controls most of the Earth’s natural resources. Its intellectual resources are millions of times greater than the resources of the rest of the world. This is the foundation of the overwhelming hegemony of the West in technology, the arts, media, IT, and science, and this implies its superiority in all other areas. It would be too easy to just conquer the world. After all, they still need to rule! And this is the fundamental problem that the Americans are trying to address now… Remember that in the time of Christ, the population of earth was only about 100 million people. Today, Nigeria alone has that number of inhabitants! A billion “westernoids” and the people assimilated by them will rule the entire world. However, this billion, in turn, also needs to be controlled. In all probability, two hundred million people will be required to control the Western world. But they must be chosen and taught. That’s why China is doomed to failure in its struggle against the hegemony of the West. The country does not have enough control, nor economic and intellectual resources to implement an effective administrative system consisting of approximately 300 million people. Only the West is able to solve the problems of global governance. It has already started to do so. Hundreds of thousands of “westernoids” in the former communist countries, such as Russia, tend to occupy leadership positions there. Totalitarian democracy will also be a colonial democracy.

Q: According to Marx, apart from violence and cruelty, colonization also brought with it the blessings of civilization. Perhaps the history of mankind is simply repeating itself at this new stage?

A: Indeed, why not? But, alas, not for everyone. What kind of contribution to civilization has been made by American Indians? Almost none, as they were crushed, destroyed, and wiped off the face of the Earth. Now look at the contribution of the Russians! Let me make an important point here: the West did not fear Soviet military power as much as its intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential. The West saw that the Soviet Union was full of life! This is the most important thing that must be destroyed, should one wish to destroy one’s enemy. Which is precisely what was done. Today, Russian science is dependent on US funding. It is in a pitiful state because the US is not interested in financing its competition. Americans prefer to offer Russian scientists jobs in the United States. Soviet cinema, too, has been destroyed and replaced by American movies. The same thing happened to literature. World domination manifests itself primarily as an intellectual, or, if you prefer, a cultural diktat. Which is why in the last few decades, Americans have so zealously tried to bring down the cultural and intellectual common denominator of the entire world to their own level – it will allow them to impose this diktat.

Q: But might this domination turn out to be a blessing for all mankind?

A. Ten generations from now, people will, indeed, be able to say that it all happened in the name of humanity, i.e. for their greater good. But what about the Russians or the French who are alive today? Should they be happy that their people will have the same future as the American Indians? The term “humanity” is an abstraction. In reality, there are Russian, French, Serbs, etc. However, if the current trend continues, then the nations who founded modern civilization (I mean the Latin peoples), will gradually disappear. Western Europe is already bursting with foreigners. We have yet to speak about it, but this phenomenon is not accidental, and it is certainly not the consequence of the allegedly uncontrollable human migration flows. The goal for Europe is to create a situation similar to the situation in the United States. I suspect that the French will hardly be delighted to learn that mankind will come to be happy, but only without the French. After all, it might well be a rational project to only leave a limited number of people in the world, who could then live in a paradise on earth. Those remaining people would certainly believe that their happiness is the result of historical development… No. All that matters is the life that we and our loved ones are living today.

Q: The Soviet system was ineffective. Are all totalitarian societies doomed to inefficiency?

A: What is efficiency? The US spends more money on weight loss than Russia spends on its entire public budget. Still, the number of overweight people is growing. And such examples are many.

Q: Would it be correct to say that the intensifying radicalization in the West will leads to its own destruction?

A: Nazism was destroyed during total war. The Soviet system was young and strong. It would have continued to thrive, had it not been destroyed by outside forces. Social systems do not destroy themselves. They can only be destroyed by an external force. It’s like a ball rolling on a surface: only the presence of an external obstacle could break its movement. I can prove it like a theorem. Today, we are dominated by a country with enormous economic and military superiority. The new emerging world order is drawn to unipolarity. If the supranational government manages to achieve this by eliminating all external enemies, then a unified social system can survive until the end of time. Only a person can die from their illness. But a group of people, even a small group, would try to survive through reproduction. Now imagine a social system comprising billions of people! Its capacity to anticipate and prevent self-destructive phenomena will be limitless. In the foreseeable future, the process of erasing differences across the world cannot be stopped, since democratic totalitarianism is the last phase of the development of Western society, which began with the Renaissance.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Alexander Zinoviev

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myfriendpokey · 5 years

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subterranean modern

1. Modernism as a concern with being modern.

Which on the face of it is a weird and trivial thing to be concerned about. Who cares? Is the modern good, bad, does it have any specific qualities or objectives whatsoever? If it does, then why not address yourself to those goals directly, rather than having to fret about the merely temporal? The neoclassical and romantic don't strictly speaking have to worry about being modern, they could always be justified on the basis of the eternal human verities, like such-and-such, or the other thing. The postmodern doesn't need to worry about being modern as "modernity" is something which has already happened, and which is inescapable, which is why we can safely afford to engage in pastiche. So what was the moment in between - when art could neither justify itself as something safely outside of history nor as something already contained within one which had already occured? A period of art trying to deal directly with historicism itself?

To be anxious to be modern is to see your life, beliefs, status and role in the context of a history where any of these things could abruptly or violently be changed by forces out of your control - it involves a sharp awareness of how poorly "history" will treat or has always treated those deemed to have been left behind. And it's an anxiety with no necessarily fixed political expression, which helps to explain why modernism itself could be so various (and sometimes dubious) in this regard. The Martian attack in War Of The Worlds is famously an extrapolation of the West's own colonial history, turned back on itself: now we are the victims of genocidal, technologically accomplished marauders. But if this is a critique of the colonial mind it's also a kind of paranoid extension of it, imagining faceless alien hordes just waiting to swamp europe if we ever get lax or fall behind in the arms race: the common cold which eventually undermines and destroys the space invaders also mirrors western anxieties about foreign contamination (as syphilis had historically been viewed), or miscegenation. The awareness that a change in "history" could mean death or diaspora might just lead to trying to punch first and most brutally in the name of preserving some advantage, or trying to hold on to your spoils another few generations – but it could also mean trying to find another way of thinking, acting, writing which would break out of the cycle itself.

Literary modernism drew on and tried to position itself within a range of competing historicisms (Marx, Freud, Spengler, Carlyle, Darwin, etc) and in the process tried creating new ones. The results are in general not inspiring: Yeats’s gyres and cycles; Shaw’s mysterious “life force”; Joyce’s Vico-inspired circular history; Ezra Pound’s doggedly stupid efforts to construct a new theory of fascist political economy by crossing John Adams with dynastic China. But I think we also have to see these as scaffolding, to some extent, around a larger project: which is the idea of art as an intervention in history, an apparition of the future (or the uncanny past) which would burst in on the present with a set of new demands for everyday life. We currently live in an economic system in which the blood of the present is continuously drained to artificially prolong a possible, impossible future: one which attempts to pre-emptively shut any political act which would infringe on the right of rentiers to generate constantly increasing returns on their investments until the heat death of the universe. The avant-garde is the reverse – something which would take its energy from the future in order to extend the range of action in the present. When the neoclassical emphasis on the merely aesthetic (or the merely moral, the improving) palls into kitsch, when the postmodern emphasis on “challenging narratives” becomes a purely ritual form of defusing tensions so that business can go on as usual, the concept of the modern as an unsettled question still has capacity to startle.

2. Are videogames modern?

Emilie Reed has already explored this question from the perspective of visual modernism. But i think if we ask it using the definition that I started out with earlier in this post, the answer has to be: no, absolutely not. Videogames aren't anxious about modernity, not because they're so formally advanced (the whole videogame industry is largely an anachronism) but because they never had a sense of history to begin with. History in videogames is at most the history of the stylistic signifiers of videogames themselves - from 8bit to 16bit and so forth - but even then, there's no real sense of that transition being historical in nature, in being linked to some specific change in how people lived or worked or thought about their lives.

To some extent this is because videogames emerged and were propogated across a strangely uniform historical moment – the moment of neoliberalism, from the mid-70s to present, of a supposedly vindicated free market capitalism re-emerging throughout globalized economies worldwide. Videogames are up there with the IMF in terms of historical signs that you're living in this state of affairs: luxury commodities, consumer-grade electronic toys which take advantage of a busy tech sector, cheap manufacturing and shipping, and of course a progressive slackening of regulations around marketing to children. Videogames mean leisure as well as novelty - every videogame is an excess, a kind of portent of the easy abundance and constant progress that the market had to offer. They emerged without anybody much ever wanting them to, part and parcel of the range of spontaneously occuring new conveniences and devices that accompany consumer society.Twenty years too late, they nevertheless would have fit right into the famous “kitchen debates” of the 1950s, in which a model house filled with brand new appliances and recreational devices acted as showcase for a way of life that “anyone in America could afford” (start saving those pennies!!)

[The history of Atari is an interesting time capsule of videogames as aimless luxury doohickey rather than anything as essentialist as a “medium”. Atari’s other products from this time included a sort of proto-winamp skin, a music visualizer that plugged into a tv to display a limited range of soothing animations. It cost $170, which i believe would be over $600 in 2019 dollars – shades of the Oculus Rift, but also an interesting indication of the kind of commodity Atari thought they were making in general]

Videogames are “futuristic” but it’s in a sort of vague, unwilled way – nobody asked for these things to be invented. People behind the scenes were certainly struggling to produce and advance on them but the public representation is, as the Housers say, that videogames are made by elves. The famous “end of history” was still a few years off, but the sort of passive, ambient futuricity of videogames were part of the pitch, part of the idea that if history hadn’t yet ENDED it could at least be something that happened far enough away that you never felt the tremors.

Why is videogame culture so hospitable to the far right?

Postmodernism is haunted by the notion of conspiracy, the idea that history lingers on in some subterranean way, continuing to exert a baleful influence upon the present; officially denied, but still working behind the scenes, a secret society of postal workers here, an albino papist assassin there... so perhaps it’s not surprising that something of the same paranoia would hang around videogames, or some of the specific targets it would end up revolving around. One weird thing is that the people paranoid about keeping politics out of the format never seem to be all that vocal when it’s, say, the US military working with these companies for explicit propaganda purposes, or weapon manufacturers looking for free advertising, or large companies involved with weird shady review practices, etc.... but it also makes sense when we consider that these things, the military, industry, big tech, are what have always supported the supposedly ahistorical bubble that videogames exist within. If the US army does it, it can’t be political – because that army is exactly why we’ve been able to keep a certain form of “politics” at arm’s length.

If fascists find a home within these circles it’s partly because fascism is itself anti-political, or at least anti- the discursive and constructed nature of the political, anti-having to be political. It addresses itself instead to the inchoate realm of pre-existing essences and “natural”, i.e. historically unexamined, identities, posited as seperate from and superior to the ebb and flow of any given discourse. Which in fact is not dissimilar to how videogames have also presented themselves, and the affluent 1970s american middle class leisure patterns that they continue to preserve in aspic through their design assumptions although they’ve dissolved nearly everywhere else. To talk about the specific political meanings implied by such-and-such mechanics is not wrong per se but i think it does miss a broader picture: these things were sold, not as an artform or a medium of communication to begin with, but as the simple birthright of those lucky enough to have been included in the winner’s circle of 20th century globalization. And insofar as the gruesome escalating culture war around these objects is not really about them but about that birthright, about the right to not have to think about these things or what they cost or how they’re made or what they even really do, they will retain some character of the horrible idiot Boy’s Adventure rhetoric of fascist thought – traitors within, invaders without, take back what’s ours etc.

It’s not like modernism proper was lacking in antisemites, misogynists, imperialists, fascists of every stripe. Although the real connection between the two has tended to be overemphasised: it doesn’t include, say, the painters exhibited as “degenerate art” under the nazis, or murdered jewish artists like Bruno Schulz, or the feminists, socialists, anarchists, homosexuals, etc etc (and even the most ignominous cases like that of the futurists don’t feel quite conclusive, unless you think Mussolini really was keen on abstract sound poems as the new and vigorous art of the future). But maybe the gruesomeness of that list is the point: everything bad about modernism is already here. We have the weird cultish adoration of a strictly pro forma version of “difficulty”, we have the idiot jingoism and “provocative” chauvinism, we have lots of dumb schlock about saving western civilisation and masculinity and etc. Like the scrapmetal cars in Mad Max all-new unified theories of history are or have already been constructed from the flotsam, junk science and vague prejudice of the previous century. At a point where gamer cults are watching youtube explainers of Carl Jung while drinking brain-enhancing nutrient paste i think we have officially lost the right to make fun of W.B. Yeats for hanging out with Rosicrucians and injecting ape glands into his scrotum to restore male vigour. It was good while it lasted.

But given that we’re here already, is there anything worth taking from modernism the first go round? I can think of a few different things. The internationalist qualities of the artist’s magazine and manifesto, both cheap and portable forms which could easily be adopted or changed, which served as hubs for local action and also as ways to exchange findings and ideas with other groups doing the same. Compare this to videogames where “local scenes” surely do exist but for the most part do so as ancillaries to a generic industry pipeline, making games for the same carefully featureless, anglocentric audience that this entails. Relatedly, how central translation was to modernism, not just as a way to introduce more works to the existing market but as a form of creative estrangement and of getting out of a limited market-based parochialism – a way to engage not just with singular decontextualised works but also with criticism, theory, arguments. Given how much more capitalised even alternative videogames still seem to be than alt comics, literature, etc, it’d be nice if we could achieve at least parity with those forms.

I could also point towards the modernist interest in material and the new working methods this opened up – the interest in what mass production could mean and what new relations to art it could entail – attempts to create new forms of audience, of public and public speech, and to imagine forms of popular art which didn’t necessarily abide by the gloopy poptimist ethos of the popular always equalling the profitable always equalling the ubiquitous (there were many false starts, but i believe poptimism finally died forever with the advent of the funko pop). And I could also point at the interest in combining the critical and the aesthetic – in the argument that style is itself a combination of the critical and the aesthetic, is also a way of thinking about history, rather than just being what gets swapped in over the programmer art when it’s time to show a build, or treated as the meaningless expression of some changeless pre-existing taste. Is taste changeless? Or to what extent? What does this mean for forms of public speech, like art, which themselves exist within the constraints of taste? Unfortunately, we will probably not be helped in our thinking on these questions if we only ever write about Red Dead Redemption 2.

***

Part of the reason videogames have tried pointing themselves away from the modern is to try to establish their own lasting importance; instead of a provisional tangle of different incongruous traditions and materials designed to fit a peculiar historical or economic context, these things are a medium, which is imagined as a sort of mysterious Stargate portal onto the realms of Systems or Empathy or Play or whatever other Panglossian catch-all helps get you some of that californian venture capital, or possibly a book deal. But part of the consequence has been a stunted dogshit format where art is downgraded for being anything other than an advertisement for itself and which acts as a haven for fascists looking to also naturalise their tiny bubble of seigneurial rights away from any consequence or critique. Videogames might not be modern but by now they’re part of our image of what modernity looks like, and as that modernity continues revealing itself to be frayed, collapsing, incoherent or wildly unsustainable these things will like it or not become another part of that stock heap of broken images pulled from at random to build the futures that you may or may not ever want to live in. We can start thinking about the past as a way to find alternatives within it; or we can outselves become that past, and have our bones incorporated into the deathmobiles of the new age. History is back baby! it’s still a sewer!! awooo!!! Get ready to die historicist, on the fury road!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Leax63ullPE

[images: Modernism(1995), World History Quiz, My First Amazing History Explorer, Smart Mouse for Sega Megadrive]

#gamecrit #modernism #art

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nikkyschoolblog-blog · 5 years

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PUT YOUR PHONE DOWN (yes that’s the title)

We are surrounded by it. Is there ever a time when you don’t have your phone in your pocket? Everywhere we look it is Instagram this and facebook that. Oh you only got 100 likes? Guess your picture is not good enough to be showcased to the world. How many times a day do you think you look at your phone? How about a computer or any type of a screen? Every day we are constantly reminded that we are choosing to compare ourselves to the people around us. Social media of all sorts fills our heads with unrealistic expectations of reality. How do you contribute to society? American culture has evolved tremendously over the past few decades mostly due to the media and technology. My development as a young adult has also been heavily impacted by the media and it has transformed me into the savage queen I am today.

Can you even think about a time when people were not so readily available on social media? It boggles my mind to think that in the 80s when my parents were alive that they could not just call their friends on their personal cell phones. I remember growing up when I was taught to call up my friend on the home phone and say “Hello sir this is Nicole Bernier calling I was wondering if Naomi was available to have a play date?” And then I would wait patiently for Naomis Dad to go ask her if she wanted to bike over to my house. Nowadays kids don’t even talk to each other! The children I coach already have their own instagram accounts and get 3 times the amount of likes I do. I cant imagine being so young in a world of technology trying to figure out how they want to be viewed by society. Even as a young adult, I continue to waste my time stressing about how I want others to view me. We get here to college and expect that everyone has got their life path figured out when most of us have absolutely no clue what we are doing and spend more time on Snapchat than we do writing an essay.

When you turn on the radio there is a large chance that it will be some rapper singing about drugs, money or chicks. It’s tasteless how famous people want to present themselves by trying to promote bad behaviors. But oh no everyone loves Ariana Grande and Drake and how “lavish” their lifestyle is. How Nicki Minajs butt implants and Kylie Jenners lip injections are the new craze. Statistics have shown that the younger generations are more insecure due to the conveniency of social media and how the celebrities choose to promote themselves. The media can have a negative impact on certain people especially children because they often compare themselves with these unrealistic standards we are constantly surrounded with.

As an avid 50s music listener, I truly find it interesting how the lyrics of most of the songs are about love and romance or true heartbreak. It’s pretty rad how that is an artifact in itself and its so readily available to us all the time. It also shows how the music culture has changed over the years. Most kids I’ve met think my music taste is weird or what “my grandma listens to” but honestly in a world of people listening to the same genre, I like to be unique. I think everyone should give a good listen to some Dion and the Heartbreaks or Frank Sinatra and at least give it a chance.

So just a couple of months ago I had to go on a cleanse. Not a juice cleanse or a bath full of Lysol, no I mean I had to delete all social media off my phone because it was making me unhappy. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) the people I surround myself with told me that it also made them feel insecure and that they would be better off without it. This sparked my interest and I did a poll on instagram seeing how many people disliked social media and the results had me shook. More than half of my followers that answered said that they hated it. Why do we keep these apps on our phone if our happiness is not benefited by using them? I chose to be happy and after I deleted my instagram facebook and Snapchat I felt 1000% more productive.

Unfortunately I caved in after 2 months and redownloaded them because there was no way I was going to Europe and not showing the world pictures of how delightful my vacation was. I posted a whole bunch of fabulous pictures but in reality I was sick nearly the entire time so I couldn’t enjoy myself to the fullest extent. I posed and pretended I wasn’t hacking up a lung and I was thrilled to see that people “liked” my vacation more than I did.

Don’t get me wrong I’m the queen of taking pictures to the point where my mom is like “Nicole I am not going to be your photographer. Put your phone away.” I have to catch myself sometimes and remember that I am not living to please random people on social media. I am living for the experiences, for the laughs and the genuine connections.

Pictures were made to capture a moment but why force happiness to present a life you are not living? It’s almost like propaganda in a way because were only showing one side of how we live. Hey if you’re as happy as every single post on your insta then go you that’s awesome but most people can agree that life is not always just the happy moments. That’s the thing. Most people use these platforms to only show the attractive parts of their lives. It’s all just a game of comparison and perception. But who’s life really is the best? Are you genuinely happy in that picture you take on the beach with your butt hanging out of your bikini and Gucci handbag just so convenient placed in the frame of the picture?

When I think of media and pop culture I think of how my goal as a child was to literally become Sandy from Grease when she was all decked out in her red lipstick, leather pants and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. I though she was the coolest person ever. I watched that movie on REPEAT because it was the only PG13 movie my mom allowed me to watch on my DVD player. Within a few years I was that kid who started smoking as a teen because I thought it looked “cool”. Now I’m stuck with a nasty habit that everyone thinks is gross because the media evolved to somehow make smoking cigarettes uncool but vaping apparently pretty dang cool. Guess I’m just a few years late.

When you’re young you need some kind of an idol or a person to admire. When I was a preteen I listened to Eminem and really resonated with his lyrics. His anger lit a fire within me and I became more and more defiant the longer I listened to him. I chose to be influenced by his freedom of speech and it gave me confidence to deliberately act upon my impulsive behavior. Parents hated Eminem because he got fame for promoting violence and presented himself in a negative way. I related to the fact that he was misunderstood yet also didn’t care about how people viewed him. As much as I want to forget 2008 me I will always remember how the music I listened to impacted my life and decisions at the time.

Speaking of 2008, I remember having a flip phone and trying to hold it still for about 4 seconds to make sure the pixelated picture did not come out too blurry. Now we have 12 year olds editing their face and their body on photoshop because that’s what the instagram models do. They wont ever understand how hard it was to type the s on the flip phones with no alphabet keypad. I was out here responding to texts hours late with one word answers and now here I am texting paragraphs like its none of my business.

Technology and the media is constantly evolving and shaping our culture into what it is today. It is changing so rapidly by incorporating technology into every little task and as much as I hate it I know that it plays an important role in who I am as an individual and how I choose to be viewed by others. People like to communicate with each other and that is why social media exists but there is a fine line between using it for practical purposes and allowing it control your life. To this day I struggle with using my phone as a tool rather than a time suck. Maybe Ill just pack my bags, and venture out into the wilderness to escape this crazy tech era. Hopefully they’ll have an outlet for my iPhone charger though.

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makingmediameta · 6 years

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Keyword Definition: Motivational Posters

Motivational Poster: an image with accompanying text intended to influence a viewer’s attitude or behavior, particularly to motivate a viewer to reach a particular level of performance or display a particular characteristic through the use of emotional appeal.

“Hang in there, baby!”

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

“Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.”

Motivational posters can be seen everywhere from the classroom to the work place to your very own phone. These posters can be physical or digital, but they all display a quote (like the ones above) set against a photograph or illustration. The purpose of these posters is to influence their audience’s attitude or behavior, often to achieve a particular level of performance. Motivational posters are so ingrained into American society that certain motivational designs and quotes have undergone thousands of remakes and parodies—take for example the image of the “Hang in there, baby!” cat above which was remade in a Simpson’s episode! Yet even though motivational posters may seem cliché, they have not always been the norm, especially in regards to motivating employees in the workplace.

Seiders, Motivational Aesthetics, and Mathers & Company

Prior to the twentieth century, advertising and propaganda depended largely on text and written rationale, following a Victorian tradition that largely distrusted images as a form of persuasion. Magazines rarely featured pictures, except those that elucidated complex technical issues explained in the articles. At the turn of the century, image began to take on a more important role in American society, especially the use of posters. Posters had previously been considered an irrelevant, feminine medium, but in 1915, the U.S. National Safety Council began a nationwide poster campaign, followed by the U.S. government’s propaganda campaign during WWI (Gray, 77). These campaigns began to legitimize the use of posters as a professional medium.

Following the war, the business community adopted the same illustrative practices to promote efficient work environments that the national government had use to promote “national service and patriotic sentiment” (Gray, 78). Seth Seiders’ Mather and Company was the first private company to create a nationwide poster business in 1923, capitalizing on the dawn of the humanist approach and industrial psychology, which were both being implemented by managers in the workplace. “New literature proposed that management should take into account the worker's emotional needs, aspirations, and desire for ‘fellow feeling’— meaningful relationships with workmates—in its effort to win over the worker's allegiances, mitigate industrial conflict, and increase efficiency” (Gray, 79). Seider saw this new movement as an opportunity to market posters and pamphlets that appealed to worker’s emotions in a way that created a positive environment, motivated workers to improve efficiency, and “advertise(d)” the behaviors which managers expected from their employees (Gray, 80). Seiders’ business contributed to a new culture of visual education in which image began to supercede text as the main form of advertising and public information dissemination in the twentieth century (Gray, 80),

“At the height of its success in the late 1920s, Seider claimed that (Mathers) was supplying over 40,000 firms… (whose) customer base stretched from coast to coast in the insurance, commerce, transportation, cannery, communications, banking, sales, coal, and rubber industries,” according to an article about Seider’s business practices by David A. Gray (Gray, 77). The posters themselves embodied artistic movements of the turn of the century, and incorporated bold colors and images accompanied by instructive text (see example below). This developed the start of what Seider called motivational aesthetics, the combining of motivational texts or quotes with appealing images.

Mosby’s Great Performance Company

The next significant evolution in motivational posters was in the 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of Mosby’s Great Performance Company. This company had its start in the health care industry, but eventually developed motivational posters whose main purpose was worker incentive. These posters are recognizable by their photography images framed by a black border with a motivational quote or word written in the bottom center. These posters were a result of trends in “foreign competition, corporate downsizing, new emphasis on quality, and racial and gender tensions,” but were targeted towards manager performance rather than hourly workers like posters in the past, introducing a new definition (Smithsonian Libraries). Today these posters are some of the most recognizable in the motivational aesthetic canon.

Motivational Posters Outside of the Workplace

Motivational posters are also frequently used in classrooms and educational settings for the same purpose as when they are used in work environments; to influence behaviors and attitudes. The behaviors that increase efficiency, collaboration, and productivity in a company are the same ones that create a harmonious educational environment. A differentiation must be made, however, between motivational posters used in educational settings and educational posters. Educational posters’ purpose is to educate by presenting new or complicated information in an easily accessible and visually appealing way--similar to an infographic-- whereas a motivational poster is focused on behavior and attitudes. Both educational and motivational posters fall under the larger category of visual education and are similar mediums, but they differ in the messages that they deliver.

Motivational posters have been proven to encourage healthy decisions like taking the stairs or buying healthier beverages when placed in strategic locations, operating in a manner similar to propaganda by encouraging public consciousness (Tay). Additional evidence of motivational posters’ relationship to health will be discussed in more detail later in the article.

Online Motivational Posters

With the dawn of the internet, and especially social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, motivational posters have taken on new form as digital images. These images may not be physical “posters” per say, but they do fall under the same categories of motivational aesthetics.. Images from the Internet have the ability to be downloaded, printed, shared, viewed, commented on, liked, and displayed on desk tops, lock screens, or any other digital platform that you can think of, changing the way in which motivational posters are viewed and interacted with.

The format of motivational posters online varies greatly, but the majority still adheres to the traditional motivational text/image format. Dennis Tay analyzes what he considers the previously unexplored area of online motivational posters in his article “Metaphor construction in online motivational posters.” In his sample of 900 online motivational posters selected at random from the three top-searched online results for “motivational posters,” only 4.8% relied on visuals alone (Tay, 110). This statistic reinforces the importance of text/image combinations when distinguishing motivational posters from other online images. Tay also brings up the topic of demotivational posters, a subset of online images produced in a style that parodies traditional motivational poster formats but that include negative text. (Tay, 110).

Newer forms of media circulating on the internet are memes, humorous images, videos, or pieces of text that are copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users. Often memes take the forms of images with text written over them, in a similar aesthetic approach as a motivational poster. However the differences between the two forms of media lie in their messages and purposes; memes are intended to connect audience members to one another by allowing them to share in a joke, feeling, or emotion while a motivational poster is intended to influence attitudes or behavior. Some memes are intended to influence attitudes and behavior, but because they extend beyond this purpose and have their roots in humor, they cannot be categorized with motivational posters.

“Do They Really Work?” Societal Effects of Motivational Posters

It is difficult to determine whether or not motivational posters achieve their attended effect of improving the workplace environment. Studies of motivational posters focus on their history or content, but not specifically on their overarching societal effect. Yet since motivational posters have continued to be used in the workplace for close to one hundred years and have evolved to such a degree, they must be making some sort of impact.

In the author’s opinion, the power of motivational posters lies predominantly in their appeals to emotion. Pathos is one of the strongest rhetorical devices, and since motivational posters typically invoke idealized images and text, they play into this rhetorical strategy. They can also satisfy the emotions of the manager or person who puts them into place by allowing the person to feel as though they have done something to improve the lives of their employees or audience, resulting in positive reinforcement for the action. Motivational posters powers also have a basis in psychology. In the book Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation : The Search for Optimal Motivation and Performance, authors Sansone and Harackiewicz discuss how it takes a balance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to optimize both performance and experience (Sansone & Harackiewicz, 3). Too much extrinsic motivation can dissuade or eliminate intrinsic motivation (Sansone & Harackiewicz, 3). Motivational posters are classified as extrinsic motivation because they are displaying a message that is external to the viewer. However because of the text’s motivational nature, posters can also inspire intrinsic motivation by empowering the audience into feeling that their life is in their own hands, they have an internal locus of control.

Despite their name, motivational posters do not always motivate viewers in a beneficial fashion. Online motivational posters are frequently used by health and fitness bloggers in a recent trend called “fitspiration,” a combination between “fitness” and “motivation.” Images with tags like #fitspiration or #fitspo, a.k.a. fitspiration content, is defined by researchers Lea Boepple, B.A. and J. Kevin Thompson, PhD as “content promoting fit/healthy lifestyles…includes objectifying images of thin/muscular women and messafes encouraging dieting and exercise for appearance rather than health, motivated reasons (Boepple & Thompson). Oftentimes this content takes the form of traditional motivational posters, with text overlaid against an image of a lithe, young woman. In a content analysis of fitspiration websites by the same authors plus Ata and Rum, the authors analyzed the images and text found on these websites shared many of the same qualities as pro-anorexia or “thinspiration” websites which have been linked to poorer body image and higher likelihood of disordered eating (Boepple et. al.). In a similar study published in Cogent Social Sciences in 2016, Hefner et. al. found that fitspiration images on microblogs like Instagram and Twitter were related to disordered eating symptomology because of their encouragement of dieting and restrictive eating (Hefner, et. al.) From studies such as these, we can the particular way in which motivational posters combine image and text to influence our attitudes, behaviors, and even our health.

Motivational posters have evolved in style and persuasiveness since their introduction to the American workplace in the 1920s, but their messages and purpose remain largely the same. With the rise of new technologies, motivational posters have transcended physical forms and found new relevance as digital images shared throughout the Internet. Whether they are used seriously or parodied, motivational posters affect the social world in a manner that is unique to its particular medium by combining text and image to influence attitudes and behavior.

Works Cited

“American Enterprise Exhibit: Posters.” The National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Libraries, americanhistory.si.edu/american-enterprise-exhibition/new-perspectives/work-incentives/posters.

Boepple, Leah, et. al. “Strong is the new skinny: A content analysis of fitspiration websites.” Body Image, vol. 17, 2 Apr. 2016, pp. 132–135. Social Sciences Citation Index, eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=3dc002a5-79ba-46e2-9393-9632c60eb20f%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=000377728500016&db=edswss.

Boepple, Leah, and J. Kevin Thompson. “A Content Analystic Comparison of Fistpiration and Thinspiration Websites.” International Journal of Eating Disorders, vol. 49, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 98–101. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=9f0fe3ef-5043-48fa-861a-18cb1a6804a5%40sessionmgr120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=112198047&db=pbh.

Gray, David A. “Managing Motivation: The Seth Seiders Syndicate and the Motivational Publicity Business in the 1920s.” Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 44, no. 1, 2010, pp. 77–121. Art and Architecture Source, eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=1f6f3a9c-5d78-478e-9a9c-292c71c23366%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=505319260&db=asu.

Harackiewicz, Judith M., and Carol Sansone. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation : the search for optimal motivation and performance. Academic Press, 2000. UF data base, eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=fbd0552f-7ccc-4ba4-9ba5-3c89933557b1%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=ufl.020328511&db=cat04364a. (ebook)

Hefner, Veronica , et al. “Mobile exercising and tweeting the pounds away: The use of digital applications and microblogging and their association with disordered eating and compulsive exercise.” Cogent Social Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, 2016. Directory of Open Access Journals, doaj.org/article/e70a44e9c39043e9921f92aa6e50bf62 .

Tay, Dennis. “Metaphor construction in online motivational posters.” Journal of Pragmatics, vol. 112, Apr. 2017, pp. 97–112. Science Direct, www-sciencedirect-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/science/article/pii/S0378216616305665.

-RE

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ad360com · 4 years

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Wyatt answers a question (Part1)

Telling me not to so something makes me want to do it even more, DJ. Why Israel? Because when I joined this movement, I notice everyone talks about every other country but no serious discussion on Israel. No one is safe from criticism imo. So how about we do that, DJ? Shall we? Let's have honest discussion, DJ. Because truth is coming. It is obvious that elite 1% hide behind good jewish people to commit atrocities and profit on top of them. Much like America. I have no problem admitting that. We are great, but we are also monsters to much of the world. The elite 1% have created the jewish vehicle and manipulate good Americans and good Israelis, they do not care about the Jews. At. All. They hide behind them. In fact, Honest Jews should be most vocal. This common knowledge outside the schizophrenic propaganda bubble in America. Oh trust me, DJ, they don't care if you Jewish or Moslem or Christian. They have plans for each of you. They will use you. Tarnish your name. They will ride you like vehicle, & when you crash, they will use other vehicle. HRC=vehicle. Jews=vehicle. Christian's are vehicles. It's all pretty simple if you put emotions aside and think from perspective of psychotic king. Tbh, all of this new to me, I've only started looking into this topic since 2018. How the good jewish people aren't outraged is beyond me. I really don't get it. It'll be hard, ofc. It's funny. Some Q people follow like no one's biz and have malfunction when Israel brought up even tho Q says "saving Israel last." People afraid to RT etc but my views way up, so obv ppl curious & reading. Massive redpills incoming. Bend over and say ah. One side note. I like Gorka, but he gets foolish and smeared low follower acct I follow not long ago because he asked legitimate Q about Holocaust. Q everything? Gorka called him "denier." That is what I mean. No hate ever, we want honest discussion & curious why the deflections Also I dont always have opinion on the stuff I write about, just sayin. So if you say anything to me like dumb cuck, I'll laugh. I'm just typing what I see. Even from multiple perspectives sometimes But the Q was about the Holocaust numbers. Fair question. So I looked into it. The outright denial is chidish imo and not serious person. People definitely died, and there were labor camps, but numbers get questionable. Yes, yes they do. You can find examples everywhere. There was a single witness who supposedly was in two concentration camps and is the primary source for about 1/3 of Holocaust deaths. It's a nasty rabbit hole, but you figure out that a lot is stack of exaggerations. One of the most obvious is the fact that the Nazi's crematoriums would have had to burn a body about 10x faster than a modern one and be running 24/7 for years with literal zero downtime. There's a reason why they specifically say "Historians agree that 6 million died" because it's just an agreement, not an actual number based on facts. Have you ever seen the Treblinka Holocaust Memorial? It looks pretty strange for a "memorial". Looks like they just Holocaust historians claim that during WW2 almost 900,000 people were killed and buried at Treblinka. And they claim that later the Germans dug up and burned the bodies in order to destroy the evidence. In 1999 a team of experts used an $80,000 Ground Penetration Radar (GPR) device to check for evidence that the soil had ever been disturbed as . They found no evidence of any soil disturbance. They covered the field with 17,000 boulders/stones and called it a memorial.Now you can't run any more Ground Penetration Radar tests - not without moving 17,000 boulders (which are set into concrete). Of course, doing this would be disturbing a sacred Holocaust "memorial" - which would land you in jail. Mission Accomplished. The whole Holocaust thing and the way the elite 1% use as a vehicle is very strange and fascinating at same time. Are you not at all curious as to why this is the only genocide event that needs legal protection by throwing "deniers" into jail? Or do you just happily overdose on the forced narratives? Surely the elite would never lie to you. They aren't psychopaths or anything. Trust us. Genuine Question. Why do we hear about the Holocaust over and over in movies, TV shows, documentaries, newspapers, books, etc. but almost never hear about the HUNDREDS of other historical genocides? It seems very weird until you figure out the real purpose of all this. Ask yourself one simple question, How in the world does Israel get away with their mass murder, ethnic cleansing and brutal oppression - if we're going to be honest. I have criticism for both sides of that conflict, don't get me wrong. I'm staying on outside looking in though. Why are we very allowed to discuss the idea of white privilege, but forbidden from discussion of the hypothesis of Jewish privilege? Foolish if you don't think it applies the other way too. In three words... Guilt/elites/vehicles. Guilt over Holocaust. Sick, but brilliant, no? The ultimate Guilt trip enables the ultimate in psychological manipulation. You see, Holocaust means that they entitled to special rights - the right to forbid people from discussing their disproportionate wealth & political influence. THE PERFECT VEHICLE. How do you not see? A found that the number one reason Jewish Americans give as the source of their identity as Jews is not race or religion. Instead when asked "What does it mean to be Jewish?", the number one reason given (73%) was "Remembering the Holocaust". Hm. Some people think of it as a secular pseudo-religion called Holocaust-ianity or some shit (combining the words "holocaust" and "Christianity"). Laws in many U.S. states, known as , mandate teaching to all school children. Vedddy weird folks, no? This indoctrinates kids with the belief that the Jewish people are "unique" in their historical victim-hood. This puts Jews at the very top of the victim hierarchy. This was the goal from beginning, since widely believed victim narrative gives you political power, being top of victim hierarchy give you the most political power. That's why holocaust-ianity causes people to believe that Jews deserve special rights that no one else has. They mean well, but man are they slow. For example, holocaust-ianity means wealthy inbred morons can manipulate Israel and somehow hold ethical exemption to create type of racist country, whether citizens realize or not. Laughable. Israel is diverse. I know 4 that live in Haifa and they travel all over. Lefties, righties, buncha groups. If Mr.Trump just stomped out the major criminal networks we wouldn't even be dealing with any of this bullschiff. Regular citizens always the ones who suffer. It's pathetic. Normal chill citizens there can easily do what we are doing. What I'm saying is I condemn both sides of region but also support both sides for defending themselves. Innocent people always caught up in the middle. What I'm really saying is that Israel needs to flush their toilet. Not hard to separate elite agenda from normal people on planet. Some idiots will follow like lefties here. Man made systems. Can be infiltrated and can be used as vehicles to manipulate the masses of genuine good people out there. Also dont forget the horrific stuff Japanese did. And then you have them working with China and selling sensitive information and testing out traitorous surveillance tech. Like Hillary. Who is Rothschild pet. God forbid we should ever cut off their billions and cut aid entirely for now - they might really stab us in the back. Holocaust-ianity gives right to violate principle free speech, so people can be censored etc. Use Dan Cringeshaw, but never trust Dan Cringeshaw. He said it best. Said you're allowed to question everything and criticize every govt except for one lucky winner. Hint: not USA Currently no other vehicle at time has this special political right to protect the victim-hood narrative against people who might use their free speech rights to question the narrative. Also why Obama talked schmack but still agreed to send billions. Elites are manipulating you. The political power engendered by Holocaust-ianity is so powerful that it must be protected at all costs from the blasphemers, otherwise known as holocaust "deniers." Pathetic boring game by 1%. Make no mistake. Creating J victimhood and using as vehicle is nothing new at all. If you start seriously questioning the narratives, some will malfunction and start melting and end up blocking you or telling me "why they are going to block me now" lolol. It's so childish and weird. All we're doing is talking, asking questions, normal stuff. So scary ... ffs. Literally only thing I remember learning in Highschool was Holocaust and Rwandan genocide only because chill mf teacher put on movie Hotel Rwanda (really really good btw) about Rwandan genocide. We were taught as if Holocaust was the only genocide. Others not brought up. Why? I got indoctrinated by bs and became bored and 100% distanced from all this. When I saw a lot of the truth and became fascinated and interested in our history and cemented love of country and realized there are shit load of atrocities - feels clown like to treat anyone special. I wish more would sit down and look at things more honestly. Even if you dont know answer. I openly talk about all these topics with whites, blacks, hispanics, asians, my best friend Filipino (Dodi), or other best friend Sikh (Deepak), 99% understand none of this is our fault. That's why the state of Israel denies the Armenian Holocaust. That's also why the state of Israel denies the Polish Holocaust. And that's why the state of Israel agrees Ukrainian Holocaust must be downplayed. Even ADL on video bullied Ukraine into There can be only one **top** victim narrative. We can't even trade positions for like a day. Boring! And that position must belong to the "most oppressed people in history" - the "chosen people". *barf* The clip showing ADL's triggered bullying is from a documentary called "Defamation". Created by an Israeli Jew. Jews aren't a race, they are a religion Jewish supremacists in some top universities teach that Judaism is only a religion and that Jews are really just white people. Of course, it's not true and they know it. America's Most Famous Rabbi (as well as Israeli scientists) admitted that Jews are a Race, not a Religion. So why do they teach the "Judaism is only a religion" fallacy? They do this so that they can promote the idea of "White Supremacy" imo. If Judaism is nothing but a religion, that means the concept of ["White Supremacy" can be used as camouflage to cover up the fact that we actually live in a System of Jewish Supremacy. Also you do NOT have to be "Jewish." It's a game. Many people like myself are very new to breaking out of the mind control propaganda. They've had an almost total lock on the information for many decades. The internet is allowing a break out of the 'forbidden' information. The Jewish Supremacists are clearly freaking out and trying their best to bring censorship to the internet under the cover of "hate speech" laws. Hopefully enough people can be de-programmed in time to prevent the censoring of more internet. The axis of power in the world is doing tilts and Israel has to start wiggling itself into good position with China. As for the US, state of Israel doesn't give two schiffs about US or its people, you are tax farm and buncha fools who will jump to defense when they tell you to. It's going to be interesting to see how they will attempt to wiggle w Chinese, they are less easily manipulated than the Americans. If you step on toes once they will not forget. Not like US which has gaping whole for ass of the huge arse f'ng it has been getting for years now. You should really talk to some Israelis or read what they write online. A few good websites out there. Israel is more critical of Israel than the US is of Israel. It is hysterical to me. Some Americans think Israel is some hivemind and each person is connected with a string. US "ally" Israel routinely caught sending American troops in to do the fighting they should be doing themselves. Israel is not the home of the chosen people. There are no chosen people. What a strange ridiculous idea. Some conservatives get creepy about it. I see in my replies. Israelis have own interest in mind, always have. We may think they are our allies, but if somebody else gives them a better deal, they will sell us. That's just a fact. We have no real allies. Doesn't mean we end trade or anything. But we should know where everyone's coming from. It's just weird how the influence is all up in media. Hollywood. Basically 40% of all billionaires. Supreme court. Hell, 2% of population, but 80% of peach mints. Those witnesses were.... you'll never guess. Why would people not question this or at least have honest discussion. This was a brief duckduckgo search that took no more than 7 mins. I was reading article on how Tyler perry owns the movie studio in Atlanta, and how it’s bigger than paramount and dream works and other studios combined. So I started thinking about other influences in Hollyweird. Hollywood, I didn’t know this, made up of more than one movie studio. I’m ignoramus to this stuff. So I duckduck the owners of all the major studios in Hollywood. Boy oh boy, they’re all yeah you guessed it. To me, it's more interesting than anything. I'm just naturally curious. And it wasn’t till 2018 that I was exposed to this how Jewish Supremacists manipulate normal Israelis and normal Americans, and that would explain why America is Israel’s ho. Even that tho, the America is Israel’s biatch thing, I still don’t fully understand the foreign policy we have with them but I hear that phrase thrown out a lot by people who are known as "no bs" people. The inconsistency in the Jewish proportion of heavy hitter business people is fascinating. It really is. I’m still a shit and still learning when it comes to this and our ties with Israel. Over last few weeks I’ve been thinking about religions and how there’s really only three major ones, all with some things in common in their stories but with one major commonality, the holy land: I don’t think any of the religions got it right, something could have happened x amount of years ago in my opinion and the religions are essentially people’s versions of the story, most inconsistencies with a few similarities. How would we know. We wouldn't. Could very well be like a game of telephone. I could be wrong though, it could be something else but as I get older my belief in God grows, and idek how to pray to it or what to read about because I don’t think anyone’s got it right. And I'm a Catholic and believe in God. When your team runs the award-giving committee, you tend to win a lot of awards. That said, I have a lot of respect and admiration for the Jewish team. They've got an 'us-against'-the-world' thing going that encourages them work together and achieve some pretty cool things. Unfortunately, 'Us-against-the-world' also implies you can treat everyone who isn't on your team as an enemy combatant. It's this embattled attitude that generates a kind of ruthless, unsympathetic attitude toward players on the other team. And they are FIRST to call out any other group that adopts same strategy. It blows my mind how many people fail to understand this is a MACRO evolutionary strategy for them and they wish to slowly breed out and exile out races they don't like etc. Using Jewish label as a front. Yep, they even gave the White Helmets a Nobel Peace Prize. That shows the level of propaganda they are able to perpetuate against the American people through their mass media apparatus. Tons of Overwhelming Evidence That Israel Supports !slamic Terrorist Groups in Syria. You never hear about the regular, everyday Jews and it's shameful. I obviously know and talk to poor Jewish peeps, but it’s a thing, it’s such a thing to the point that it’s a stereotype. While stereotypes can be offensive or seem irrational because they cast a wide generalization on a large group of people, they exist for a reason and stick around for the same, so they must be true on some level. Not all catholic priests diddle. I went to 2 years of communion classes as boy at a catholic church with other kids and the priests were awesome. That doesn’t take away from the fact that a shitload of kids did get touched and molested by priests on such a large scale that the Vatican was aware. And I have no problem admitting Catholic Church one of most corrupt organizations in world and is used to manipulate masses. Not all Jews are bad or are out to take out America or care to gain influence through high ranking positions. It's all just a game. But we're the ones that suffer and get manipulated. Literally every Jewish person I've befriended, are normal, ethical people who care about living life through what their religion seems just. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that Jewish people, both male and female hold lots of highly influential and esteem positions in America, a country mostly made up of Christians when it comes to religious demographic, and these positions are dominated by Jewish people at an alarming inconsistent rate. Try reversing role and doing that shite in Israel. They'll kick you out so fast your head will be spinning. I watched interview one time with David Ben Gurion and the interviewer asked the former prime minister about Israel's nuclear program. (Israel has never admitted to having nukes, though there's lot of anecdotal evidence saying they do have nukes...but no country has inspected Israel's program since JFK. JFK was very suspect of state of Israel. So interviewer asks DBG if Israel has nukes and he replies, "We have enemies". So that's the situation. If you see the rest of the world as an enemy, you can do anything, because, it's for your survival. The truth is simply pointing out facts made from observations in data causes lots of childish triggering and weird deflection on this subject because of the deep history. Pointing out the inconsistency in that blacks make up 13-15% of the US population but over 70% of the prison population shouldn’t cause uproar or anger but rather curiosity and request of answers. Most videos of police officers will have you believe most cops use excessive force and that there is war going on between inner city black people and white pool ice officers. Total nonsense. Obviously not all blacks are criminals, but something’s fishy there. For a fact a lot of black people in prison did something wrong that led directly to their incarceration but the numbers simply hint at some sort of fuckery afoot, that leads to people asking questions. Doesn’t take a five minute duckduckgo search to realize how many blacks are doing hard time for ridiculous non violent drug offenses. Same thing goes for the cops. One of most stressful jobs ever, all day people are lying to you, when you show up to a situation it typically doesn’t mean something great is happening, pulling people over to give them tickets must feel like a shitty thing to do when a quota is set by dept. most are good at their job. It’s the few who we see in videos that show a lack of training and or skill under stressful situations. And same goes for this except when these observations are made immediate malfunction cognitive dissonance ensues. The difference with the outrage is they have a decent influence on so many sectors of this country, you can literally be black balled for life from anything. The collective identity makes sure that you think in terms of Group first and prior to anything else. On top of this, Judaism actively teaches infiltration of positions of power, politics, msm, and so on simply in order to better their chances at survival by group based nepotism. Imo the narratives have been twisted by the winners. This where the whole “history is written by the winners” phrase comes in. You have a full understanding of just how powerful the influence is when it comes to people just simply speaking about, or asking genuine questions etc.

Wyatt @SayWhenLA

a day ago BOOKMARK SAVE AS PDF MY AUTHORS Read the full article

#ethnicity #fiction #Group #Ideas #Lies #Minds #Propaganda #Social #Structure #Truth #victim

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lmjupdates · 7 years

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Lauren for Vulkan Magazine

Lauren Jauregui become a household name from the moment Fifth Harmony graced our television screens on X-Factor US, but this young starlet has proven to be more than an entity of a girl group. From her strong views on women’s rights and politics to how she overcame the hard reality of fame, Lauren took a moment to bear all in this VULKAN Magazine exclusive.

You have been extremely vocal about your opinion towards women’s rights and human rights in general; what do you feel is needed to overcome the imbalance and how do you plan to contribute?

I think organization and a call to action from any and every voice of influence that cares is what’s going to drive this resistance. The imbalance exists because so many people feel too oppressed to believe their voices matter. Empowering these people and reminding them of their worth and abilities to overcome this imbalance is going to be one of the strongest tools in organizing properly. Education and TRUTH over alternative facts are also huge proponents to clearing the way for light in this smoke.

We NEED to talk about your open letter to Billboard regarding Trump’s win; it’s a beautiful, raw, and powerful statement that SO many people need to see. Have you received any backlash for speaking such truth? Do you think there is anything at all positive that can come from his presidency?

I think in a society where we even have to be talking about having someone like him, his administration, and cabinet in the office of “democracy,” a toxic environment has been created so, yes, I’ve received a lot of backlash. The truth is a hard fact to face in the midst of so much horror being done. The truth is a slap in the face, or a cold bucket of ice being dumped over your head while you sleep. People often respond to those sort of things aggressively if they a. don’t want to believe the truth and would rather stay comfortable or even worse, b. don’t need to know the truth and strongly support the system of lies. When someone like me, who is in the entertainment industry, which is a huge falsity of its own, tries to talk outwardly about politics, especially as a woman, I receive a lot of “shut up, just sing and dance for us, you idiot.” Societies have been conditioned to believe that entertainers are just that, but I refuse to be put into the box of a puppet, and I will continue to voice my concerns and knowledge about what is happening right now for anyone who needs this to feel stronger.

I think the only positive thing about this administration is that they are so blatantly dismantling the American ideals of democracy that those who see it and understand it have no choice but to be vocal about it and start to organize in opposition. I witnessed first hand the Women’s March in D.C. the day after the inauguration and I saw both crowds. The amount of people in opposition to hatred and the stripping of freedom was astoundingly larger than those in support of the regime; and not only in Washington but around the entire globe. They’ve woken up a revolution that I don’t really think would ever have happened if they hadn’t chosen someone who, again, blatantly does not care about our rights as human beings and sees us as walking dollar signs.

“I am proud to be a woman. Proud that the sex between my thighs provides a strength and resilience in me that only other women can feel, that my body curves in ways that allow me to create life within me, that my entire life is filled with adversity and doubt and people questioning my intelligence and my artistic potential and my expression of myself and my virtue and honor because I am too much woman. I am proud that I get to prove them all wrong.” This quote is so incredibly accurate and speaks to women everywhere. How can we continue to prove them all wrong, despite Trump’s appointment of so many backwards-thinking cabinet members? How do you do it on a daily basis?

Embracing yourself every day and not allowing propaganda and lies to discourage your soul from understanding it is infinite. Women have so much power when we harness it and see it in each other. We are the answer and cure to this sick world; our nurturing spirits, strength, and intuition were given to us to balance the dominance and strength of the man. The world we’re seeing right now is a result of the patriarchy oppressing the woman and her abilities and convincing her she’s nothing but her appearance and likability, which obviously leads a lot of women to think of each other as competition instead of counterparts in this fight for survival. They keep us divided for a reason…when we wake up and see things for what they are, it’s impossible to not understand the strength you have inside of you. I wish I could say this administration saw the woman’s worth but so many executive orders carried out target not only women as a whole, but especially target our minorities and the vulnerable. In a regime where billionaire profit takes priority and human worth and sustainability becomes obsolete, it is truly an important time to harness and speak up and find a fight you believe in and act. I have been working a lot with Fifth Harmony over the past month and writing as much as I can, using my voice as often as possible to shed light and update and bring all of the things happening to people’s attention. I keep myself informed, I donate to almost every cause I come by, I’m working with my team to figure out organizations I can begin to work more closely with, going to whatever rallies or marches that are going on around me that I can make it to. It’s hard when you don’t have any stability to consistently work on something so I try my best to just stay informed and do what I can. Calling and mailing letters to your senators is also a great daily action method.

Some would say that your push for women’s rights is contradicted by the sexualized image that you and your group portray. What would you say to counteract this notion?

I would say firstly, that the group’s image doesn’t really have anything to do with who I am as an individual, as I’m sure a majority of people can understand if they know me or the story of how we were put together on the X Factor. But secondly, I would say that regardless of how the brand has been created, we are four hard working women who have succeeded in making our dream to become artists a more possible reality through this. We’ve reached millions of people all over the world who watch our interviews and listen to the message beyond the sexualization, which is to love yourself first and to understand your worth. We had so many of our fans tell us how worthless they felt before they found out about us and watched our interviews and listened to our music. Within our music there are a range of topics that deal with growing up, love and understanding. A woman embracing her sexuality is something that shouldn’t be taboo; most of our songs that are popular are sexual for sure, but I would say that’s more of a result of what the culture in America propels and consumes. Our first singles, “Miss Movin’ On,” and “Sledgehammer Boss” all had to do with harnessing your power and love. Those unfortunately weren’t as successful as “Worth It” or “Work From Home” so I think it’s a clear trend of what people want vs. what we want to give them. Again though, women embracing their sexuality should never be a reason to disregard their intellect or ability to speak on topics beyond that.

Why do you think Americans so obviously underestimated the power of Trump’s hate-fueled, misogynistic campaign? Who do you think it resonated with the most?

I think Americans are so jaded in this hamster-wheel-life capitalism has them on that they prefer comfort and stability to the fear of prison or the unknown world beyond where there is understanding and love seeping from every corner of our culture and society. We’re told this is how things were, are, and will always be. We’re trained in America to only care about our personal future and endeavors, we aren’t taught to share or help or give. So, in a society that is so self-driven, it’s completely understandable why so many people would shut off their empathy and view what this administration is doing as what’s best for this country. Most industries that people work for exploit humans on a regular basis for profit, that’s how they earn their survival, so they don’t even really notice anymore; it’s normalized. People are profit and we’re taught to believe that if we look out for someone else, we’ll be stuck last place in the race of struggling to survive. That’s the type of propaganda this administration feeds its consumers: “immigrants are stealing your jobs and killing and raping your women!” If you shout that loud enough over their evident scam of a system, those enslaved to it would rather place the blame on the “threat” than the horrible truth that their own country is betraying them; so most people just push forward in the rat race. I think the only reason I even have the ability to see everything for what it is is because I was blessed to be able step out of it and live my life through art. There is such a freedom and exploration of human experience in it that most people never have the ability to explore. I also understand how people would rather not think about the misery that is their daily life because they’re taught that success and happiness is equivalent to the amount of money in their bank account, not human emotion, love, or worth. Escapism is always a better option than revolution; nationalism is too deeply rooted in the American mindset to really make someone critically think about what they’re pledging allegiance to. I think this hate-fueled campaign awoke all of the people who feel cheated by the system and need someone to blame that isn’t their America. It awoke all of the rightists who have a deep fear of anything different from them, it awoke people who had been feeling ashamed of the hatred in their hearts and had to be “politically correct” all the time around their friends. Most people who voted for him didn’t even claim to, just silently checked off his name in the booth. He gave hatred validation and is their champion: he’s delivering on all of the things he promised them, so they rise and unite in this hatred and the society falls victim to daily terrorism and tension among its people, keeping us distracted from the real problems that lie in our very flawed system.

Many have said that the Women’s March turned into a protest against President Trump…do you agree? What did you take away from the event as a whole?

It was, in essence, a gathering of people who opposed the hate-fueled rhetoric of the administration, the propaganda, the lies, the dismissal of scientific facts, the attack on women, the attack on the LGBTQ+ community, and the attack on our freedoms and rights. If you are pro any of those things, you’re technically considered anti the administration. I think the reason it became centric to hating on him is because everything that’s happened lately is related back to give him more publicity. Almost every speech he’s made, almost every press conference Spicer stands at that podium for relates everything back to his likability and poll numbers and how much everyone actually loves him. So when things are organized in opposition, the media takes it all and makes it about him, and I think that’s why there’s such confusion right now, because he does not care about the people, he cares about his popularity and the success of his businesses. He’s a trained celebrity who understands how to manipulate people for profit; he uses these things to promote himself. I’m actually a huge fan of changing every single “anti-Trump” sentiment to “pro-human rights” because they are synonymous.

In your opinion, how can the world move forward under this regime of narcissism and alternative facts?

I think education and organization is the only way we’re going to have a good chance of fighting this regime. The power of a book, the power of knowledge and words, I feel, are the only things that can truly change a mindset and a belief. Organizing, coming together, and actively working to oppose the things that are happening is also incredibly important. We can’t just watch from the sidelines-we need to be proactive!

Traveling has helped you experience the world from a different, much more simple perspective. Can you tell us about how it has enlightened you? What do you appreciate the most about your life?

Traveling has given me the opportunity to understand just how small this world is and just how similar human experience is. We are all little beings walking around with the ability to feel and think. What we feel affects the way we think, what we think affects the way we feel. I’ve met people I couldn’t even communicate with because of language barriers but I could look in their eyes and feel love. I’ve met people who look absolutely nothing like me but whose beauty I can recognize because they are human and have a beating heart in their chest, just like me. When you can experience different cultures outside of your own, you understand their validity. When you explore other forms of life and systems, you understand that there can be and are different ways to live. When you see how many of us there are running around aimlessly on the same planet of gaseous stardust, you notice just how small you are. In the life I was given, this is what I’m most grateful for. For truly being able to experience this phenomenon that I wouldn’t have if Fifth Harmony didn’t have the support we did around the world. That, and my ability to use my voice on a platform that reaches people beyond my immediate circle.

Who is Lauren, what separates her from the group and others currently in music?

I’m still trying to figure her out, actually. I’ve recently woken up from a stupor of pure absence of self. I had to abandon myself to be able to truly do this life of fame in the music industry. I was walking around like a zombie for so long and distanced from myself for so long, that I’m just now noticing that I didn’t take any time to think about who Lauren is and develop her. I know she’s passionate, I know she has a lot to say, and I know she’s working on herself and evolving every single day. So I’ll get back to you about this one through my music, hopefully.

For people who have never heard your music before, how would you describe it…without using genres?

I’ve only currently released a song with Marian Hill called “Back To Me…” I don’t know if I even have a genre I can use because I love music in so many different ways. I think I’m just trying to connect right now. When I listen to a track I need to feel it, otherwise I just won’t do it. My individual music will only resonate with my soul, no more songs handed to me to sing.

What’s the craziest thing a fan has ever done for you?

Fans are constantly doing incredible things but I remember this one time, a fan gifted me a trip to Italy because she knew how much I wanted to go there and her father was a travel agent of sorts. I haven’t followed up with that because I haven’t had the time to actually use it but I was so, so grateful that she even thought of doing that for me.

When you were auditioning for “The X Factor,” what was going through your mind? Did you ever think it would turn into this amazing journey?

When I was auditioning, I was in the cattle call audition so I remember being surrounded by around 10,000 people with my sneakers inside my backpack just in case I had to switch out of the heels. I went through three rounds before getting to the producers and I remember the whole time my only mentality was that I was going to make it through. Every time I opened my mouth to say or sing anything, even though I was nervous as hell, I made sure that I was giving my absolute all. It was my first time auditioning for anything and trying to get my foot in the industry door, I didn’t have any connections or know anyone at all in the industry and at 16, I felt like this was the once in a lifetime opportunity that people like me who wanted a career in the arts could only dream of receiving. So I treated every single moment with reverence and attention. I think that’s why I was so devastated when I got cut as a solo artist because I knew I had given my absolute all and the thought of that not being enough was truly heart-breaking. So when they called us back and told us we could move on as a group, I was apprehensive at first because although I was grateful for the opportunity, I definitely had never envisioned myself and my artistic path having anything to do with a pop girl group. Sometimes life hands you things you can’t control though, and I believe firmly that it’s to teach you all the lessons you need to know before you’re really able to fulfill your personal legend. I am beyond grateful for my experience in Fifth Harmony because I have learned so much and have also gotten to where I am because of the hard work we’ve put into this. I’d be nothing without them and where this journey has brought me.

Where do you think you’d be if “The X Factor” never existed?

I’d probably be in college right now in my junior year, maybe studying Political Science or Humanities and Music in some sort of way. I probably would’ve become a writer of some sort because I think that’s the art I have the most confidence and strength in. Definitely in college, though.

What would you consider your biggest accomplishment thus far?

My biggest accomplishment thus far would probably be having been able to travel as much as I have. That was a dream of mine since I was a little girl and to be able to travel the world and perform while doing it has been an incredible accomplishment for me. I’d say the accolades, but the more life happens, the more I realize that trophies aren’t what make things worth while, they’re the experiences that allow you to be in a place to receive them.

If you could say one thing to your pre “X-Factor” self, what would it be?

I would say to shut out the noise and listen to your heart more. Your gut instinct is really good and you should trust it.

What would you say is the biggest misconception people have of you?

That I’m defined by my role in my group. I’m so far beyond that small bubble of pop world, as are all the girls. I have so much more to offer and say than I’ve ever had the opportunity to. But I’m not too worried about it because soon enough, people will understand that.

Philanthropy has been a huge part of your career. Can you tell us about some the causes closest to you?

Chime for Change is a beautiful cause I contribute to often, the ACLU, UNICEF, A21, Planned Parenthood; there are sooo many, wow, but those are a few of my favorites. I love organizations that empower children and women and work to create safe environments for them to prosper and have a proper chance at life and education. All of those organizations work tirelessly to aid so many people all over the world; it’s refreshing to lose myself on their sites. I hope to work more closely with them and build relationships so I can really get first hand involved in the work they do.

What are you looking forward to the most about 2017?

Self-exploration and discovery. I truly can’t explain how amazing it feels to start breathing life into myself again and to do things for myself that make me happy and feel whole. I’m excited to write more, and paint more, and read more, and exercise more, really get in tune with myself so I can start to realize the potential I see inside of myself. I’m also very excited for the new Fifth Harmony project; we’re working on an album right now where we had the opportunity to finally write a few songs, so that in itself has been an incredible start. I’m excited to see where this next chapter takes us

#laurenjauregui #fifthharmony

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magicpelagic · 5 years

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Age/origin in relation to international perception

tl;dr I've been thinking about lately regarding age, origin, and perception of the world, in particular, Middle America/the middle east not in a particularly political way but I suppose it's inherently political because of global policies, conflicts, etc and I really should be studying, I was going to post this on Facebook to have a bit of discussion going but I’m friends with a bunch of people from NYC and people get REALLY defensive about it because a lot of us saw it happen. So I figured this was probably a better place to post it

Something I've been thinking about lately is the different perception of different areas with regards to age and living location. For example for people who were born and raised in NYC you've been told countless times that it's the greatest city in the world and all that, if you can make it here you can make it anywhere. There's also a lot of NYer pride from being from your perspective area and all that, the pride in working yourself to a husk and spending your free time commuting back to your overpriced closet. If you didn't get to travel much your perception of the rest of the country basically comes from whatever media you consume, stories you've heard. Going to college upstate was such a huge eye-opener to what the rest of the country is like after befriending people from different areas and visiting them. Especially the difference between NYC and the other parts of the state. New York is huge, there so much going on in the state it's a culture shock even moving to a smaller city. I suppose I didn't think much about where I was going to live my whole life at that point but I assumed NYC because why would anyone want to leave? After leaving I learned how much I actually liked everywhere else I've lived in a lot more.

I've had friends from NYC come up to visit and they called Troy, NY suburban. which was my initial perception as well until I actually visited a suburban area (everyone jokes about Staten Island being a suburb but MAN actually suburbs are weird). When chit-chatting about politics with friends from different areas of the state it was really eye-opening to hear the different issues different parts of the state have and what they think about when voting and how much attention downstate gets when upstate gets scraps. (Example talking about gun control with a friend of mine who's family hunts for a lot of their food and sells furs, when thinking about gun legislation she's nervous of her family's livelihood (despite being supportive of banning assault rifles and all that jazz, is nervous about downstate overall influence ignoring upstate), which is something I never even considered living in a city because I thought that was just a southern thing.

Anyway, that's just a small example, the same can be said vice versa for people who've only visited a city, or have their perceptions of it based on media. It's very much glamorized and the harsh realities that come from living in a city aren't ever really shown, and when it is the characters almost always turn out okay in the end. This isn't a bad thing necessarily, you can't know about everything, this got me thinking about the rest of the world so I like to read forums about other countries.

Making friends from people who've lived in different countries has also been such an eye-opener. Being able to look up "what's life like in Croatia" at any given point on the supercomputer that almost everyone has in their pocket makes this such an extraordinary time to be alive. If I wanted to I could find someone from Algeria's twitter and see what their life is like. When the war in Afghanistan started I was very young, but in most of my education, reading the newspaper was a consistent assignment, so of course, as an older child/younger teenager I didn't have a nuanced understanding of the history of what was happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, it was boiled down to America good guys, we're helping overseas that whole thing. However now as an adult, I can through a social media platform find someone who is from the region and talk about what it was like before and after (shout out for google translate).

Talking with older people in my life ( I love and value having intergenerational friends who like to have discussions like this with me) it's really interesting asking them what they think about countries they've never been to and how they think life is like for people there. For example I showed a relative of mine picture of a few young people tanning by a pool, he assumed it was in Florida but it was in Bangladesh, and it never actually occurred to him that ya know people elsewhere have fun too, he just assumed it was all misery there all the time because that’s all he knew about the region. Even my late grandmother, who was an immigrant who acknowledged how wrong most people were about her own country..She had the opinion of just nuking the middle east and starting over, something she said when I was around 13, and that really stuck with me, I've seen that opinion before in the newspaper opinion section, but hearing someone say that in seriousness really hit me hard. Now thinking about that conversation as an adult, not that I'm making excuses for that universally cruel and quite frankly inhumane opinion, but it sorta makes sense why she thought that. She religiously listened to the radio and the only thing she ever heard about the region (and honestly she would not be able to point to one of those countries on a map) was only misery torment and justifications about what America was doing was right and payback for 9/11 , if you're an NYer you know how sensitive this topic is when it's brought up, it gets people very upset talking about it especially bringing up that over 244,000 innocent people (which is one of the most conservative estimates by the way) paid the price overseas for it.

I wonder if my grandmother had the means to read this article: https://nyti.ms/2pqpk5L if her opinion about it would change. Or if she was able to look up what cities in that humongous region even looked like, or even about the day to days of the people living there. Would she still think a large amount of the human population should get a death sentence, I wonder if her opinion of the situation would have changed if the same problems were in countries that were primarily white. Unfortunately, these aren't conversations I'll be able to have with her, but I can take solace in knowing how lucky I am to have the ability and luxury to easily access a world of different opinions and perspectives on a certain issue.

My driving ed instructor in this area, starting talking about politics, which I don't mind. We had different views on things, but it's how it goes. I mentioned a friend of mine immigrated to Norway and loves it there, and he went into a rant about how Nordic countries have no freedom and it’s all propaganda that they're happy because the socialist policies control the masses. This was uh surely an interesting stance to take, I asked if he's ever been there or knew anyone there and he said no. So this was just based of the news/radio/whatever political media or opinions he's been exposed too. He lived through the cold war maybe it was a carryover of the initial nervousness of the word socialism.

I suppose this is a long way to say, I wonder how in the future this will affect international policies and potential conflicts. If another war was to start, will people be as eager to support it? Will they want to look up about the area? Will they look at social media of people living there? Will seeing the humanization of people in a different part of the world even matter to the powers that be who make these global decisions? It's hard to say, we're living in such an interesting time period, I like to stay optimistic and hope it'll help bridge prejudice gaps and contribute to world peace eventually (whether ten years or a hundred years from now). Social media really changed how politicians can act. For example, the Vice president has tweeted more than once on his account that he doesn't like dippin’ dots, which outside of him being president is a very normal thing for someone to use social media for, but now on a global platform, America's vice president announced dippin' dots. You can be blocked from your senator online, despite being a constituent, which is such a new situation that hasn't been seen before. Simultaneously it allows you to be much closer to your representative, if they post online a lot, they aren't nebulously working (not that a lot of them do their job anyway) far away and can only access them by letter, you can hit them up and see what they're saying and what they're up to, who they associate with. I'd like to hope these connections allow them to be closer to the people they're supposed to serve/ if they do need to decide about what to do for a crisis that they'd look at people who live there's take on the issues. So far we've seen them ignore situations like flint's water crisis and Puerto Rico after the storm. I'd like to stay hopeful for the future that social media will bring people more together and help people make more informed opinions instead of just act as a tool for division.

#politics #kinda just rambling i want to put it somewhere so i dont lose the thought if that makes sense #idk feel free to hit me up if this is a topic that interest you because i find it really fascinating and i'd love to talk about it #nyc #war in afghanistan #war in iraq #9/11 #imperialism #social media #millennials #discourse #i think thats good for any trigger warnings #propaganda #long read

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i-read-past-my-bedtime-ib · 7 years

Conversation

Harry Potter related.......This is quite long, and pertains to the UK's current general election, but it is a brilliant read 😊

I know some younger voters might be struggling with working out who to vote for in the upcoming election, so in 30 Rock-style, I'm going to explain it to you in Harry Potter. Please Share with anyone you think it might help. ;)

Years ago, Britain was ruled by a dark witch called Margaret Thatchermort. She was a powerful being, who managed to convince many of the muggles to worship her, even though some suspected she did not have their best interests at heart. From her post in the Ministry of Magic, she worked with a power-crazed media mage named Rupert Merlock. Together, they weaved a powerful confundo spell to keep the muggles confused and complient. Eventually, Thatchermort fell, after being hit with an Avada Kedavra curse from her own Death Eaters.

But although she was defeated, her acolytes were everywhere. Over the next 20 years, they slowly consolidated their power, forming secret clubs in their expensive boarding schools, which were essentially like Hogwarts, only every house was Slytherin.

Eventually, the Death Eaters rose to power again, under the rule of David Hameron, a slightly incompetent wizard, who rumour has it spent much of his private time casting waddiwasi on pigs heads for some reason. He only had a small amount of Thatchermort's power, and he needed more to keep his grip on the country.

Luckily for him, the muggles were still under the influence of Thatchermort and Merlock’s confundo spell. Every day for the past 20 years, papers like Merlock’s The Mug and the Daily Muggle (Run by the evil Lord Daggar) had been printing stories that suggested that the country was under a dark spell from the European Wizarding Council, and that Britain was constantly under threat of being flooded by unskilled foreign wizards, who would either provide low quality spells, or refuse to perform magic at all, preferring to sit at home apparating 60" flat screen tv’s into their lounges, and living the life of Riley off the vast bounty that was the £49 a week unemployment benefit.

This constant rhetoric lead to the rise of a new faction, UKID (United Kingdom Independent Dementors party), who wanted to send all the foreign wizards and witches back to Azkaban (or wherever they came from). UKID gained traction with the muggles, because, thanks to the years of propaganda from Merlock and Dagger, it actually began to seem plausible that the country was under threat of imminent collapse.

Unfortunately, UKID were so successful, some Death Eaters started to worry that Hameron would lose his grip on the country, and so he made a pact to cast the Referenduerum spell on the populous if the dissenting Death Eaters supported him at the next election. Referenduerum was a spell that would give every muggle in the country a choice - to remain part of Europe, or to cloak the country in a permanent fog of invisibility. Privately, he thought it was a low risk strategy, as clearly no muggle would willing choose the isolation from the world that cloaking the country would bring. Plus there was every chance that the Referenduerum spell wouldn't actually work - nothing would change, and he’d be able to go back to weaving his dark magic on pig faces.

But what he didn’t know, was that Merlock actually wanted the Referenduerum spell to work, so that the country would be unshackled from the rules of the European Wizarding Council, and be controlled by the Death Eaters to boot. And as he controlled the Death Eaters, it would mean that he could effectively rule the country from the shadows, changing laws to suit his personal needs and tastes. His disgusting, disgusting tastes.

In association with Lord Dagger, Merlock ran a misinformation campaign in the press that ensured the Referenduerum spell’s success. Hameron was now faced with casting Brexitus, a powerful cloaking spell that would make the United Kingdom completely disappear from the face of the Earth. Quivering with fear, Hameron immediately quit the Ministry to spend more time with his pigs, ironically losing his grip on the very power he’d cravenly pursued in the first place.

In his stead rose Theresa Maytrix Le Strangle, a dark witch who used a metamorphmagus spell to appear more approachable and sensible than the other Death Eaters. She spent the next year explaining to the British what the Brexitus spell would mean. Unfortunately, she didn’t have much understanding of the spell herself, so she simply stated "Brexitus means Brexitus” over and over again. For Brexitus had never been cast before, and even though Maytrix put her best wizards on it, they were not the brightest (In fact, they made Goyle and Crabb look like Ron and Hermione). After spending an afternoon looking into it, they quickly began to realise that the effects of Brexitus would be disastrous, and that they would need to weave a new confundo conjuring on the populous. But to cast it, they would need to draw more power from the muggles. A lot more power.

You see, belief plays a big part when it comes to conjuring, and the more muggles that supported the Death Eaters, the greater their power grew. And while the Death Eaters already had a majority in the Ministry of Magic, they still still needed to increase their grip on power, by gaining more seats and thus influence on ministerial matters.

And the only way to do that was hold an election.

Which would have worked perfectly if it were not for a man named Corbyn Black. Born to an unassuming background, as a young man Corbyn had once faced Thatchermort during the Minister’s Question Time and lived to tell the tale, the only sign of their skirmish being a small lightening bolt shaped scar on his forehead. A small section of the wizarding community named The Order of the Rose realised that he could one day prove a valuable asset in the fight against Thatchermortism, and so they used an obscurism spell to hide him and his many good deeds from the view of the Death Eaters.

He eventually grew into a wizard of powerful convictions, a man who didn’t always manage to tuck his shirt in properly or wear his tie straight, but he loved his quiddich, and he always fought for the underprivileged muggles of society. The sort of guy you could go for a butterbeer with, y’know? He rose up through the wizarding ranks to become the leader of the Order of the Rose, and a thorn in the side of Theresa Maytrix Le Strangle. Merlock and Dagger hated him of course, because there's nothing worse to a tabloid than a man of principle. Not because having principles is a shameful thing, but because he can't be bought.

As the election was announced, battle lines were drawn.

Maytrix promised to give the homes of the elderly away to private firms, sell off the NHS to The highest (or middlish, she wasn't fussy) bidder and bring back house elf hunting, a particularly cruel sport that saw house elves being ripped apart by packs of vicious manticores. Apparently this was to reduce their numbers, but seeing as no-one could afford a house anyway, it seemed unlikely that house elves were really that much of a problem.

Many believed Maytrix had also been secretly collecting Thatchermort’s horcruxes, in order to ressurrect her mentor, but this was never confirmed. She ran a campaign of fear - fear that things might not turn out ok if she wasn’t there to oversee them. Fear that the country might become flooded with Eastern European wizards. Fear that things might be different.

By contrast, brave Corbyn promised to look after the muggles, offering young student wizards the chance to attend Wizarding Universities at no cost. He also promised to raise the national minimum wage to £10, and to eliminate zero hours contracts, to help those muggles who were struggling at the fringes of society. He promised to put more money into the NHS and the Police, to ensure that when things went wrong, there would be services to help the Muggles. He offered an antidote to a population of muggles that had begun to think it didn’t matter who you voted for, because the wizards always got in. But Corbyn also offered hope - hope that people still cared about their neighbours. Hope that people still believed that muggles of different nations and creeds strengthened our country. Hope of something different.

Now the election is nigh, and the Ministry is up for grabs. Who will you support, Maytrix, or Corbyn? The choice is yours...

#harry potter #ukge2017 #votelabour #ge17 #uknews #muggles #griffindor #slytherin

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reneeacaseyfl · 5 years

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Social media, vanity metrics, and the push for quality over quantity

To say that social media is not in the best of places at the moment would be something of an understatement. Trolling, abuse, conspiracy theories, propaganda, and terrorism have become increasingly active, and the companies behind these platforms — despite some efforts — are largely failing to stay in control.

Cyberbullying is one of the abuses tech companies are currently trying to curb — users will ultimately withdraw if harassment is part of the deal. But another trend we’re starting to see is social media companies cutting back on public-facing numbers such as subscribers, “likes,” and comments — “vanity metrics” often more aligned with quantity than quality.

A few months back, Instagram announced it was trialing a new feature that hides photo like counts from the public. The test was originally limited to Canada, but this week the Facebook-owned company revealed it has expanded the feature to six more markets — Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand. The move is designed to take Instagram closer to its roots — people sharing photos and videos with like-minded people, rather than trying to show how popular they are by accumulating likes.

“We want your friends to focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get,” the company said in a tweet.

It’s worth noting that users can still see their own total number of likes, but other viewers will only be able to see a very broad summary showing that some people have liked the image. They could manually count up everyone who has liked a post, but Instagram won’t tally it for them.

Above: Instagram is hiding “likes”

Elsewhere, channel subscriber counts have become an unwelcome focus for YouTube, with live, real-time subscriber counters and charts often used to fuel public spats between creators and influencers. As such, the Google subsidiary recently announced a small vanity metric tweak of its own — channel subscriber counts over 1,000 will now be abbreviated. So a channel with 135,321 subscribers will simply show as “135K,” and one with 25,345,567 subscribers will be displayed as “25M.”

While it’s not as extensive a measure as Instagram’s, it’s all part of the same push to make users less obsessed with numbers and more focused on the content itself.

Above: YouTube subscriber counts

Wellbeing

Some studies have shown that receiving likes on social media posts activates the same brain circuits in teenagers as eating chocolate. Other research has indicated that there may be a correlation between likes received on social media posts and a person’s self esteem. So while influencers and creative agencies may be up in arms about the deemphasis on popularity — given that the follower-to-like ratio is a common metric used to show engagement — removing likes and similar engagement tallies may be one small step toward combating social media addiction.

“We don’t want Instagram to feel like competition — we want people to worry a little bit less about how many likes they’re getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people they care about,” said Instagram head Adam Mosseri at Facebook’s annual developer conference in May.

Earlier this year, Twitter also unveiled a new experimental app it calls Twttr, which hides likes and retweet count by default, requiring users to tap to see these metrics. But this week, Twitter announced an update to its main app, one that seeks to hide another engagement metric of sorts — comments.

This feature allows users to hide specific replies to their tweets. Similar to Instagram, Twitter is first launching the trial in Canada, though the company has already committed to expanding the feature globally, suggesting that this is more than just a test.

You asked for more control over your conversations, so starting next week we’re testing a new feature in Canada that will let you hide replies to your Tweets.

For transparency, viewers everywhere can see hidden replies by going to a new icon or the dropdown menu. pic.twitter.com/qM8osT7Eah

— Twitter Canada (@TwitterCanada) July 11, 2019

As an aside, this news comes just in time for the upcoming federal election in Canada, as politicians (and anyone else in the country) will be able to post a tweet and then manually curate which replies they want displayed. Hidden comments will still be visible through a separate icon that the reader clicks on, but this extra friction means undesirable comments — for example, counterclaims or rebuttals to tweets sent by public figures — are not really part of the conversation.

While some may view the curating tool as a step toward “cleaning up” online conversations and putting control back in the hands of the tweeters, in reality it will probably lead to armies of social media workers manually hiding comments, at least a portion of which could probably have added balance to the debate.

Impact

While the mighty Facebook itself has not made any meaningful changes in terms of vanity metrics, it is very much espousing similar tactics, as it pushes “quality” over “quantity” — private versus open, ephemeral versus forever. Mark Zuckerberg recently stated that his mission was to evolve Facebook so it’s more aligned with WhatsApp and less a glorified popularity contest.

“As I think about the future of the internet, I believe a privacy-focused communications platform will become even more important than today’s open platforms,” he said. “Privacy gives people the freedom to be themselves and connect more naturally, which is why we build social networks. Today we already see that private messaging, ephemeral stories, and small groups are by far the fastest-growing areas of online communication.”

If there’s one thing most people can probably agree on, it’s that social networks have gotten out of control — it’s the Wild West, with people shouting at each other, strangers arguing about things they’ll never agree on, and kids trying to impress other kids with meaningless popularity metrics.

Of course, social networks are still incredibly useful for many things, but they’re not always fun places to be. What the product refinements happening at Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube tell us is that the platforms are more than aware of this issue — even if they don’t come right out and say it. Naturally, the push to realign their priorities with “quality” rather than “quantity” isn’t built on altruistic foundations; it’s based on the simple fact that people won’t hang around forever if they’re unhappy — and that wouldn’t be good for the bottom line.

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