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misplacedangeleno · 7 years

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Degrassi Next Class Season 4 Reaction Post

Hi guys. I know I’ve been absent, but I really needed to come out of “hiatus” to share my feelings about DNC Season 4. I’m coming up on 30 at the end of the month and this season moved me more than any fiction has in the past couple years. So perhaps it’s fitting to write a sort of farewell to characters who’ve been with me since my mid-twenties. I know we all have a tendency to sort of insert ourselves into fiction, but this...was something else. Cheesy? Maybe.

Saad // Belgium storyline

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I mean honestly the fact that a show, especially a show for teens, is using the words: Syria, Istanbul, ISIS, refugee, at all is mind blowing to me. And unlike most television willing to broach the issue, DNC is actually humanizing its characters who have been touched by war. I feel like far too often, we’d rather just pretend everything is fine and half of an entire country’s population hasn’t been displaced. Half a million people haven’t been killed. I’ll be the first to admit I often do.

As some of you may know, I live in Istanbul and up until very recently, was working as a journalist. A majority of our energy was spent focusing on the Syrian refugee crisis and the country’s civil war. We live at the border of the war and yes, we take in more Syrian refugees than any other country in the world, but many are shoved into camps in the middle of nowhere or living in big cities, begging on the streets. There’s no infrastructure to handle them and most can’t move westward. Add to that the low-key security issues in the country (About 20 significant terror attacks in two years + an attempted coup. Hey-o!)

But even at our news station, when a terror attack hit Europe, versus somewhere in the Middle East, Africa, or even Turkey, we’d spend days dissecting it. But then, then, we’d run packages similar to Saad’s speech posing the question, Why doesn’t anyone care when it happens to brown people? Do people just expect brown people will be blown up? I agree with the sentiment, but when we, as the “brown” media perpetuate it? Internalised hate turned into greed.

We can’t normalise death, but I don’t think more Facebook flag filters are the answer, because there could never be enough to encompass the death and destruction occurring every day. The “Western” lack of interest in death in the Middle East does nothing but perpetuate the cycle of terror. I’ve seen Anti-Western sentiment grow after every terror attack in this country and I believe part of it can be attributed to the blase attitude shown by “Western” media toward “brown” death.

What does this have to do with Degrassi? I think they’ve done a pretty remarkable job tempering reality with what Canada [and the pre-Trump US] looks like on the surface. Canada is at an interesting crossroads in that it has one of the best policies for refugees in the world, but it’s far from perfect (not that anything can be). And there are Lolas and there are people like the asshat who ripped off Goldi’s hijab. Teenagers People have never been kind so it’s no surprise that people were suspicious of Saad. It was disturbing and heartbreaking, but never surprising, to watch his story. Also not surprising: Goldi’s foray into respectability politics.

Being welcomed into a “free society” is more than being given a chance to live. Yes, newcomers are given the freedom to worship as they chose (or not). And I am in no way undervaluing that. It’s a fundamental human right. People need to be welcomed, folded into the fabric, not made to feel like they must be grateful, or always apologizing for people who don’t speak for them. Or you know, in the case of Goldi, reminding people that they’re Canadian by birth.

Goldi // Winston

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The Muslim voices on DNC are strong, clear, and super diverse- just like- wait for it- people in real life.

I especially love Goldi’s relationship with Winston and how she tries to reconcile her personal morals to her feelings, desires, and the world around her. I was pleased with the show for never judging her or making her decisions “wrong.” We could see how big her decision to hold Winston’s hand was and it wasn’t played for laughs. Likewise, he didn’t push her, was always respectful of the boundaries of their friendship/flirtation. Checking that the dessert was halal, that it was OK for them to be alone together, etc. Of course, he blundered: Maybe you should just take it off. That felt as realistic as the sweetness, as did the fact that he did physically fight the guy. Goldi’s guilt about the whole thing felt spot on. Her father’s reaction felt right for the moment and character DNC created.

Bisexual !!!11!!!

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*I’m totally down with people who don’t label themselves. This is about a general TV problem and more so, this specific character*

How is it that after 30 years on this planet...every time I hear a character on television say the words I am bisexual, I still feel like something has opened up inside and I can finally exhale?

I do have to laugh, though, having read that post going around about imagining the classroom diversity exercise through a third party’s perspective. On one hand, I completely agree. On another, the attitude is part of why Miles has struggled. He can’t- and should never- deny the amazing privilege he has in his life. But he is bisexual, dammit, and we are real, and we are discriminated against, and we deserve validation, and acknowledgment of the fact that it puts us at high risk, even if we’re rich, white, Canadian men. // rant over.

Miles’s rejection to the “diversity” spot was a great segue into a total acceptance of himself. Aside from one throwaway line to Maya in season 14, we’ve never seen any outward acknowledgement that he has any issues with his sexuality. But he’s never put a label on it, nor has he referenced acting on it, or being aware of it, before Tristan. He was instantly cool with Tristan being gay and didn’t seem to mind helping Zoë figure herself out. But sometimes when we label something, it becomes real. It feels like no take-backs.

Miles finally admitting that he did, in fact, struggle with his identity, and wasn’t just someone “not into labels,” made me want to cry. This acknowledgement rounds out his entire story arc in a way leaving him as someone who loves the person, not the gender wouldn’t. IMHO. It seems to confirm a lot of head canon. And it seems like something that had been planned, rather than just fanservice. But what do I know?

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So. I’ll miss these characters.

That’s it. I think. <3

P.S.

Hijab moments: There are now just random extras in hijab (though why it took Syrian refugees for this to happen, idk). Also Goldi wrapping a loose scarf around her head to Facetime Winston.

Such a random and small thing, but there was a scene where Saad was chopping up cucumber and tomatoes and it was such an amazing touch. Small, but so, so, accurate. Kudos. Season was filled with them. Another was Rasha commenting about the horror of her ex not removing her shoes upon entering the house!

Connecting Lola’s parents fleeing Argentina to Saad fleeing Syria? Brava!

For all that Ms. Grell is up in everyone’s business and noticing that Yael is binding their breasts, you’d think she’d be checking in with Saad and the other refugees, though? I mean they’re all so worried about him being radicalized and a terrorist and yet aren’t doing mental health check-ins. Ridiculous.

Yay! A genderqueer/fluid character!

I don’t think Hunter has an obligation to stay with Yael. He likes girls. They’re not a girl. Hunter does, however, have an obligation not to be an asshole.

#degrassi next class spoilers #dnc spoilers #goldi nahir #saad al’maliki #MilesHollingsworth #degrassi

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fapangel · 7 years

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199 chars, I got cites. I'll stick to actions and militia/cult behavior. The sniper attack on power station citation is you missing my point. Antifa has no weapon stockpiles or military training. The groups law enforcement see as a threat are the militias: "Law Enforcement Assessment of the Violent Extremist Threat". PBS: "armed militia groups surging across nation" Cult stuff: Business Insider:"right-wing-militias-recruit-young-soldiers-on-4chan-2017-5" psychologytoday:"the mind the militias".

Firstoff, pastebin.com is definitely the go-to for things like this -there’s no way anyone can make a cohesive argument in that tiny askbox. Just say “pastebin: and it’ll get you past that “no URLs”filter tumblr imposes. But I can answer these points/sources here:

Have you heard of the John Brown club? They’rean antifa group - the usual insane anarchists - and they’re showingup at protests carrying loaded weapons. The Phoenix group inthat article made a video of themselves doingrange practice. I believe that qualifies as training, youknow, with those weapons you say they don’t have.What fucking training do you think the right-wingmilitias have besides target shooting and playing paintball in thewoods? In other words, exactly what these people are doing?

And what the fuck do you mean stockpiles? Bro,I don’t know if you’re aware, but we live in America - you know,that free country? If you want a gun, are over 21,and don’t have a felony conviction on your record, you can walkinto any store, do 5 minutes of paperwork, wait for them to call theFBI background-check database and walk out with a new long gun. It’sthat fuckin simple. And they’re not that expensive either, you canget a decentAR-15 pattern rifle for under $500, easily. Same for ammo -you can easily buy bulk, online. The only state where both of thoseare harder is California, and I imagine that suits the huge mobs ofclub-armed antifa cunts just fine, because semi-auto firearms with large reloadable magazines are the best way to counter thugs that badly outnumber you. Stockpiles? That crazy fuck that shot the hell out of a US Representative and two Capitol police officers was using an SKS, a fucking WWII era Soviet rifle that loads from the top with fucking stripper clips. And look how much damage he did - it’s only pure dumb luck that nobody was killed or mortally wounded.

... stockpiles? Just how much do you know about guns? Here’s what I found in literally five goddamned seconds on ammoseek.com - you got $290, a credit card, and a shipping address? There you go, a thousand goddamned rounds of .223 Remington. Want two thousand? Three? Change the number in the “quantity” box.

Stockpiles?

Anyway, I’m not surprised that PBS and pals are back at their fake news, doing their damnedest to gin up right-wing militias as the real threat even as they reply to attack after violent attack by radical Islamists with hey - not all Muslims! Yes, that is the trend; witness this Atlantic article trying to justify it. But that’s beside the point. For starters, if you haven’t read my 6,500 word post on left wing vs right wing violence and violent rhetoric, I go into some depth with the whole militia thing there. For all their LARPing in the woods, swaggering and shit-talking, there hasn’t been any significant violence committed by right-wing militias since... forever, considering that Timothy McVeigh was never really part of one - and his attack was twenty-two years ago. Moreover, I cover how his attack - and the attention it drew to the militia movement - sent anywhere from “2/3rds” to “80%” (according to two different militia-affiliated folks being interviewed) scrambling away from them at high speed. Protip - actual terrorist organizations tend to attract attention when they manage huge, spectacular attacks - you know, like how Black Lives Matter is still going strong after multiple ambush attacks on cops? Gee.

And that brings us to the essential point - if these militias are really dangerous, and not just a bunch of shit-talking LARPers playing soldier in the woods - then where’s the violence? Again, as I document in that post, the only “cells” they find are a few shitheads talking shit in a bar too close to an FBI informant that eggs them on - one of them even gave them free automatic rifles to shoot, to get them all excited.

As for this study, it’s a start, but this paper freely and breezily equates “anti-government extremism” with “right-wing extremism,” and that’s a false equivalency - because Antifa are anarcho-communists. Just read their handy-dandy guide to setting up an antifa group, where they call the state their enemy multiple times - as well as cops. Shit, they have a whole section on “state repression.” Also note the bit under “political orientation,” where they openly state - in case there was any doubt - that the majority of their membership in the US are anarchists. In case you weren’t aware, anarchists are, by definition, anti-government extremists. The list on page 4 covers “anti-capitalist violent extremism,” but considering that antifa are anarchists and anti-capitalists - where do they fall in the reporting? Did every agency report them the same? In light of antifa’s own literature (again, that guide) advocating strongly that they not even name their groups and keep their identities secret as long as possible, how accurate is each agencies accounting? Hell, where do right-wing terrorist groups fall on this scale, considering there’s several anti-immigration militias that focus on finding and reporting illegal immigrants? Doesn’t that qualify as racist? Or are they anti-government, considering that anti-government sentiments tend to run pretty strong in groups like that, especially with a black Democrat in office who personally did as much as he could to hamper border control efforts?

Shit, by their own admission on page 4, they defined “Al-Qaeda inspired violent extremism” as “violent extremism inspired by the radical Islamist ideas advocated by al-Qaeda and other like-minded extremist groups,” and every other category with one general example; “violent extremism motivated by any other political, social, or religious concerns, including, but not limited to, anti-government, racist, radical, environmentalist, or anti-capitalist views. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber (Ted Kaczynski,) and the Sikh temple shooter, Wade Michael Page, are examples of ‘other violent extremists.” So they only define one category well, loosely define the others, and then they start standing around characterizing the results with terminology (right wing, left wing) they didn’t even use in the fucking survey? When all those other categories were lumped together into “other violent extremism” in other categories?

And then there’s other data-sets - one just adds up every every crime committed by “groups or individuals with far-right associations,” (which would include every skinhead robbing a gas station, which they do a lot, because skinheads are dime-store hoods almost by definition,) and the well defined report - focusing on premeditated plots by individuals or groups that rise to the level of attempted or actual domestic terrorism,” has a whopping total of... 34 incidents listed in 14 years, and is published by the Anti-Defamation League, which is a fucking activist group, not academics, or law enforcement. Wew lad. The Global Terrorism database is better - more data, and a good definition of qualifying incidents - but it’s only being compared to Islamic extremist terrorist attacks in the US, not left wing domestic terrorism, which is what we’re discussing here.

Bruh, this is some pretty rough shit, here - all twelve pages of it. Especially that bit at the end where they make a claim about how law enforcement agencies see “right wing terrorism” (a phrase used nowhere in their survey to said law enforcement agencies) as a bigger threat in the city than in rural areas. Yeah, dense urban areas, which overwhelmingly vote Democrat, as anyone who’s seen a county-by-county electoral map can tell you, are the hotbeds of right-wing militias?

Bruh. Bruh.

But, listen, you’re actually doing your fucking homework here, which is more than most assholes can say, so lemme help you. The FBI is a great resource here - not only do they publicly publish huge annual reports on all sorts of categories of violence, (law enforcement officers killed and assaulted, general crime stats, hate crime stats, etc,) but they watch fucking everyone. There is no group too big or too small for them to not worry about - they’re basically a domestic surveillance agency. That’s why you have agents going out of their way to hand out automatic rifles to a trio of knuckle-dragging rednecks to egg them on till they can arrest them - these guys have time and resources to spare, apparently. They watch everyone - and they cover them, too, with published reports. I’ve read their reports on motorcycle gangs, and in researching that big post on violence, I found (and used) their public information on the “Sovereign Citizen” movement, which is definitely right-wing. While we’re at it, here’s their page on anarchist extremism. Note that page is out of date, though:

For today’s generation of American anarchist extremists, the rioting that disrupted the 1999 World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle is the standard by which they measure “success”—it resulted in millions of dollars in property damage and economic loss and injuries to hundreds of law enforcement officers and bystanders. But fortunately, they haven’t been able to duplicate what happened in Seattle…

LOL HAMBURG. But you get my point - the FBI watches everyone, even esoteric groups like anti/pro abortion “activists” that get a little out of hand. So the FBI is an excellent primary source to go to - certainly better than another PBS hit piece which is also regurgitating data from the “Anti-Defamation League” and making claims of “thousands” of people flooding to the Sovereign Citizen movement, without citing any source at all. Especially when they started in on how dangerous sovereign citizens are! As I noted in my big effortpost (see that for the links,) Sovereign Citizens managed to kill six police officers since the year 2000 - but twenty officers have been ambushed and murdered in 2016 alone, with multiple attacks committed by black people acting on black separatist/revolutionary rhetoric, including the Dallas shooting (killing five and wounding nine) and the Baton Rouge shooting nobody seems to have heard about (killing three and wounding three.) The latest ambush murder of a police officer in New York was similarly motivated - I haven’t even counted the ambush killings of cops in 2017 yet. But yeah, man, the fuckin right wing millitias are the real threat! Hooooo boy, how fucking hard can they shill?

Anyway, here’s the FBI’s resources page, complete with all their copious reports in .pdf format, including several on terrorism related topics. I’ll bet $5 you can make a better argument than fuckin PBS with just what you find here. I’d also track down the sources cited in that 12 page “paper” you linked and read them yourself, see what you can get out of them. That should be a good start, at least.

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