#10 million views in 24 hours that’s our man

[louisupdates]

Louis on Twitter [31.10.2023]

Twitter Spree 31.10.2023

[winns-stuff]

LO RANT:

Sigh… Here we go again. I know I always say I’ll keep this short and then I write 24 paragraphs but I really do feel like I’m going to keep it short with this chapter.

First off, I’m glad Demeter came back it was lovely seeing her face and her appearance and her interaction with Cerberus had to be the only good thing about this whole chapter. One thing that I really despise though is just how lonely she looks… Everyone and everything is just constantly changing around her and she’s just supposed to get over it?? What the actual fuck bro, for a character that’s supposed to be a villain or whatever so many people around her are showing themselves to be way eviler in spirit than she is. Like I’m genuinely so done with Lore Olympus and a lot of the fans (they know who I’m talking about) because this whole Demeter hate train is reeking of internalized misogyny and I’ll tell you why.

There has been so many times in this fandom where any goddess or nymphs especially that isn’t Persephone or on Persephone’s side all the damn time has been insulted and dragged through the mud (just like demeter has) just for doing something fucking small while a man can get away with doing something absolutely disgusting and no one bats a fucking eye. It’s been a theme in this comic and this fandom to shit on all women for doing absolutely nothing and praise all the men for either doing the bare minimum or doing something heinous that’s used as a damn gag. I also don’t like how Rachel herself fuels all of this shit because she truly writes the characters in a way that you could tell which side is the side you should go for and which side is the side you should hate, she doesn’t give any of the women any depth and she’s always writing them so one sided and mean spirited that it’s hard to even root for them (if they’re not on persephone’s side of course) but she gives all the fucking men these damn 10 hour long backstories and explanations of why they do anything and basically defends them no matter what. That irks the hell out of me because she literally makes the decisions and she’s in charge of how everyone views the characters, I’m sure you can’t even talk to her about any of this shit either because anytime there’s even a little bit of criticism she takes it as an attack and all of a sudden you get witch-hunted by her millions of fans “defending her” by only making the situation worse.

Also something else that I don’t appreciate is just how women’s distress and discomfort is just used as a joke.. I’m so sick of that. That happens too much in real life, women are never taken serious when we say that we’re uncomfortable or distressed by certain environments or people and everyone undermines and belittles our concerns and we have to forfeit our safe spaces and put our minds on survival mode because people such as the “comedy” in Lore Olympus continues to treat it as a joke. You would think in a story that follows the story of Persephone, a young woman who is searching for her voice and identity after an absolutely disheartening and disgusting invasion of her bodily autonomy, would take in account that women’s concerns and our discomfort and our distress should be handled with respect and not taken as a joke wouldn’t go in a direction where they’re actively putting women in powerless and invading situations for the sake of a few “laughs”. Why would this even be comedy? Why is it not even being treated like it’s important? Everyone gets to brush it off like it’s nothing and they laugh at that joke just like they have been for centuries. I find it disgusting that that’s the main source of comedy in Lore Olympus and it really does defeat to impact on what could’ve been a powerful message.

Alright, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest and that I’ve cooled down slightly I’ll move on to a much lighter point. I hate the fact that it always feels like Persephone isn’t actually the main character, like is it just me? Because I never really get to see her be the main character herself, and I can’t even remember the last time I read about her thinking of herself. It’s always about Hades, Hades’ trauma, his backstory, his thoughts, his dialogues, his concerns, his everything. There’s so much focus on Hades that there is none of Persephone, I wanna know about her too. Not about what she thinks of Hades, not her loving Hades or daydreaming about him, I want a chance to get to see her personality outside of him. I absolutely despise the fact that romance is written so that one of the characters can trade in their personality, their character, and everything that makes them an interesting person just to be obsessed with the love interest. That happens to many times, when you’re in love yes you do think about that person but there’s a limit to just being in love and being unhealthily obsessed. It’s like if Persephone doesn’t think about Hades for 1 second she’ll die or something. You can be in love but you don’t have to trade your damn soul, you’re still a human being at the end of the day and it would be so much more enjoyable to witness if Persephone and Hades just fucking acted regularly.

Also, and this is very small too but, the dancing just kinda made me eye roll… And I absolutely love the art of dancing so that says a lot. But I just don’t think it’s an aww moment or anything, I don’t know. It’s kinda like that couple that’s always together and makes being in a relationship their whole personality which is the definition of Persephone and Hades. We get it that you’re stronger together and you can’t possibly be apart for just a few moments or make decisions without each other but damn can I at least get a crumb of development? What’s the difference between Persades now and Persades before? We know Persephone is a queen now or whatever but we don’t really even see her change or have any thoughts about it. No doubts or concerns? She’s just there and fine with everything it’s so boring and weird.

Anyways, this whole thing has been slightly draining and angering for me but I’m at a point where I will just be constantly defending Demeter because I don’t care. Also, Artemis is reeeallly making me regret giving her an appreciation post, like I don’t even know if I should scrap it or not. But yeah, like I always say… very biased and opinionated, also very hostile so sorry about that. If you don’t agree that’s fine and if you do that’s fine too. Can’t really articulate all the rest but if you’ve been here long enough you know what would be here and if it’s your first time I’ll come back and add it for you.

[journeythroughbible]

The Road Not Taken

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." – R. Frost

This poem came to mind upon our Daughter Ella's passing. She will be 33 forever.

We met Ella 10 years ago; she was a damaged victim with a black eye. Our church knew we had extra room and asked if we could house her for a few weeks till she could get back on her feet. We said sure, and "that has made all the difference."

A few months later, we did an adult adoption and accepted Ella into our family. Ella was an exceptional young lady with an incredible intellect whose life had been twisted from a lifetime of abuse and torture. Before we move on, think of the most horrific abuse someone could endure as a child, then step it up, and you will be closer to what El took. With that out of the way, Ella was an amazingly caring person. As we were contacting people that she had known, we became amazed at the stories of how she impacted their lives. We talked with 3 people who claimed she kept them from suicide.

"And that has made all the difference" is true since Ella claimed that if we had not adopted her, she was close to suicide. So with Ella's life being extended for 10 years, at least 3 lives have been saved and prospered. I am sure there are more.

I think of so many stories. When she first came to stay with us, she used to wake up screaming, asking mommy not to leave since "he will hurt me." Because of her, we got to know many in the Suwanee PD and Fire Department. If it wasn't for her and Miracle, I might not have had anyone close by to call 911 when I had my cardiac arrest. So technically, you can add another life Ella saved!!

I love Robert Frost, and he wrote the poem "Out, Out," which he never read aloud because of the coldness. It was a true story about a young man who had injured himself with a bandsaw. The last few lines were a grim look at how we live:

"The doctor put him in the dark of ether. He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath. And then—the watcher at his pulse took fright. No one believed. They listened at his heart. Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it. No more to build on there. And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs."

The poem's title was from Macbeth when he heard of his wife's death:

"Out out brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing."

Both talk about life and how insignificant it is in the grand scheme of things. Really if you think about it, only the death of Jesus has one life made such a worldwide impact. Over 2000 years after his death, his statement "but my words will not pass away" reigns true (Matt 24:35). No matter how you view Jesus as a savior, a prophet, or a myth, his words and impact are undeniable. While I am not trying to compare Ella with Jesus, her life is more like a pebble in a quiet lake. The ripples go much further than the point it dropped into the water. (Ok, maybe not a pebble, but rather a large rock:) These ripples will continue well after that pebble has sunk away; like Ella, I am sure her waves will continue well into the future.

Also, we need to mourn her death, but at the same time, we need to gather our lives together and move forward. She would not want us to do anything less.

What now? She has left this earth and is finally able to hug Jesus in his T-Shirt and torn blue jeans!! What are we to do? Can we go back to scales over our eyes and ignore the child sex trafficking she brought to all our attention? Can we sit and do nothing while millions of our young continue to be abused by often rich, godly, and powerful people? Do we say, "there is nothing I can do; someone else will take care of it?"

I would say NO. You can take the easy way and give to some organization (I will link a few at the end). Or you can take the road less traveled and roll up your sleeves. I can guarantee you will have long and ugly conversations with God, and life will not be easy. You WILL be attacked, and the "enemy" will do everything they can to end your progress. All I can say is this is imperative.

Our lives would be so different if we took that path more traveled. There are some points in our life's trajectory that you can look at where you are today and realize that one decision made all the difference. Regrets? None whatsoever!

Here are some organizations we have experience with that are great sources of information and are in deep.

https://discoveringmercy.org/ - an organization that helps victims recover from complex trauma, as Ella had.

https://www.ourrescue.org/ - Tim Ballard's group for saving Child Sex Trafficking victims worldwide.

[dertaglichedan]

Without Fox News, Tucker Carlson Takes Man Cave Rants to Twitter Show — to Smaller Results

Tucker Carlson — who was booted from Fox News in April — has made a serious pile of cash practicing what I like to call the conventional wisdom of the counterintuitive take. His worldview can be whittled down to this: everything you ever heard is wrong. And I mean everything. (He still believes the English alphabet has 26 letters but give him time.) 

Last night, he began the Twitter phase of his lucrative career. Carlson was broadcasting from an undisclosed man cave of a studio — complete with unfinished wood and fishing rods that clashed with his preppy tie and blue blazer attire. It made him look like the country club money man wandering into a meeting of the Secret Society of Maladjusted Lunkheads who all loom right off-camera. 

He then provided his rote 10-minute grocery list of Greenwald-meets-Greene grievances. It’s not clear if the speech was preplanned or tied to the news of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River, but Carlson used the catastrophe as his gleeful jumping off point. It was less than 24 hours since the incident and Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy denounced the act as Russian terrorism. 

Anyone who has ever watched Tucker knew where this was going. Carlson argued that it was likely — surprise! — a Ukraine terrorist operation. He said the largely held worldview that Zelenskyy was a courageous defender of his homeland was completely incorrect. Instead he is a “sweaty and rat-like comedian turn oligarch, a persecutor of Christians.” Not nice! Notice the drive-by quality of the “persecutor of Christians,” which is a classic Carlson fact-free zone created by, uh, Tucker Carlson.

Carlson’s long-honed strategy is to call bullshit on his enemies — in this case Bill Kristol and Sen. Lindsey Graham — for sculpting the conventional view that the dam explosion was a Putin operation. He then provides his own bullshit report from the upside-down world. His theory for Zelenskyy being responsible is that Putin isn’t dumb enough to do this and you’d know this if you, dear watcher, weren’t bought and brainwashed by corporate media. Carlson offered the Nord Stream pipeline explosion as precedent for Zelenskyy blowing things up. The small problem is it has not been proven that Zelenskyy or Ukraine destroyed Nord Stream.

From there it was the worst cover version of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows.” Everybody knows 9/11 didn’t go down as you believe, everyone knows Oswald didn’t mow down JFK, everyone knows some “skinny dude in a dress is a girl.”

It all built up to a Carlson crescendo. The biggest news of yesterday isn’t climate crisis, transgender wars or Ukraine. No, it is the discovery that the Pentagon has UFO aircraft and the alien bodies of UFO pilots in their possession. “We know in a normal country, this news would qualify as a bombshell the story of the millennium, but in our country, it doesn’t,” said Carlson in his faux sad voice. 

***

Poor Tucker. He was big and then the picture got small.

***Yeah, 92 MILLION views.. Pretty small..

[thenewdep224]

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[klaineownsmysoul]

I just can't believe that there are people who still believe every single word a public figure/celebrity says, most of the time they LIE. Did C lie about some fans harassing his bf? I have no clue, but if someone was indeed harassing him, that is just not correct. There are crazy fans in every fandom. If people still believe every post or tweet is posted personally by the celebrity, they are just naive and gullible. I don't believe in CC, but that's just my opinion. I do believe D is closeted and just because he posts something or says something nice about someone doesn't mean he actually thinks that, it is most likely PR, just like the unnecessary refurbishment of RR's house. People should wake up and not believe everything they see on the internet. Side note: I couldn't even get mad at yesterday's show because everything is just so ridiculous and bad-acted that it's funny.

At this point, if you aren't side-eyeing basically everything that comes out of Hollywood, you are just willfully ignorant. Its all calculated to a specific end and they don't think twice about contradicting their past selves if it serves a current narrative. Case in point: C saying towards the end of glee that he had no idea who D was when he joined the show when there's a whole interview of him talking about seeing D in AVPM way back when. Like season 2 back when. That's just a blatantly obvious, easily disproved and stupid lie. With regards to this podcast mess - I haven't listened to it and I wasn't on tumblr for most of glee's run so I wasn't really privy to a lot of the goings on that happened bts. Can I believe that there were people who crossed the line of fandom and behaved like assholes? Yes, definitely because it still happens. That kind of behavior is not exclusive to the glee fandom. You will find people like that everywhere. Whether or not they did exactly what he said they did - only he knows that for sure. Its a weird thing to bring up now 6 years after the show has ended as it effectively (and unfairly) paints a bullseye on a specific group. I'm not sure what he was hoping to achieve with this. The CC people that I've interacted with here are lovely and would never in a million years even think of things that horrible. Keep your thoughts and opinions to your own little blog and you don't tag the person in your post - its as simple as that. Who are these nobodies who have that much power that they think they can get a complete stranger fired? If they did indeed behave this way, then that is appalling, completely batshit crazy, and unacceptable - they need professional help. Its not funny, its scary. There's no need for that ever. At the end of the day, its his life and what he does with it and who he spends it with is his business. There's a pretty simple solution if you don't like the person anymore or don't like what they are doing: you can simply stop following them. You don't need to engage in some sort of bizarre smear campaign that has real world implications. Remember all those toxic twitter teens who were ready to draw and quarter D a few months back over that nearly 10 year old pic of him or a comment just as old? The awful things they said about him, the nonstop tagging of him and the flooding of every one of his SM posts with their bullshit? The "you're dead to me if you choose to remain a fan of his" ultimatums? I do! That's the kind of stuff that drives celebs away from SM and ruins it for the rest of us that know how to behave. You're creating an issue where there wasn't one and that's sort of what C did here with his comments.

From my point of view, the issue with C and D's SOs isn't so much that they are with other people, but more to the kind of people they seem to be. I don't know much frankly about W. He's not shoved in my face 24 hours a day and a hovering annoying presence at everything C does. You'll find more pics of C solo or with AF than you will with W. That's why he bothers me less and why D takes more criticism on this. But from what I've heard about him, he's said and posted some pretty awful things in the past and if people choose to not like him because of that, that seems valid to me. As fans, we can only judge celebs by what they say and do and our perception of them - its all we have. My dislike of M is not because she's with D and I'm a super jealous old spinster. And its not because I'm a self hating misogynist. Its because of the way she clings to D and his career while doing nothing on her own, the way she uses him for her own selfish purposes, and the hypocritical way she claimed to not to want to be in the public eye but yet shadows D at every event he goes to because it means cameras and photos and recognition as his wife. That tacky awful commercialized wedding was the last straw for me because I haven't been able to hold my tongue since. And if you follow someone long enough, you can get a pretty good idea of when they're being genuine and when they're bullshitting you or in D's case, when its him posting something and when its a member of his team. For example: where he supposedly proposed. By lying about it - either then or now - you've created a mess that didn't previously exist. Its a fairly simple straightforward statement that most people get right the first time: where they asked their SO to marry them. D says Japan, RR says D called him saying he wanted to do it when he was outside a bathroom in Miami. So the answer is either a) D b) RR c) none of the above. I'm going to go with c, thanks. Unless RR is going to come back and say that D decided to ask her in Miami but then waited until they were physically in Japan to do the asking, I'm going to go with neither of you are right and the reason D blew off the question every time he was asked about it by saying he didn't want to bore us is that you hadn't come up with a good enough and believable story yet. Much like the engagement ring that hadn't been locked down until RR could find a designer willing to make a ring with a diamond big enough to soothe her ego and give off the pretense of being legit. He probably put more effort into that than anything in D's career in the last 5 years. Do I think that RR did help D at one point when he was starting out with gigs, jobs, things like that? Sure. No problem. And maybe they were friends and liked to hang out and jam together. But do I also think that D has outgrown him personally and professionally at this point? Hell fucking yes. He needs a grown up to take his career to the next level and RR is not that person. He completely failed to capitalize on all the awards and well deserved hype D got from ACS and for that alone, he should have been fired. He needs someone who wants to do the work because they understand the rare find they have in D and that their job is to promote him, not themselves. The IOU ep was nothing but a self serving hour of D trying to make RR look and sound like he's not a complete waste of space on top of getting a cut of his fee as his manager. If you look at D's page on the very sad H/yphenate website, you will see the 3 biggest roles D's had are not listed. No Blaine. No Hedwig. No ACS. But oddly enough, a mention of his record deal with Columbia, which I thought went kaput ages ago and his hosting of the Teen Choice Awards in 2013. You know - the big times. Why? I'm going to assume its because he got those roles without RR's help so he doesn't want them there and what does that tell you? It should tell you everything. This is why your manager should be your manager and your friends should be your friends. Its like a parent who wants to be their

child's friend instead of the authority figure they need.

Too much of D's SM has the look and feel of pr and useless ads and just flat out nonsense and that falls squarely under RR's domain. He's a 34 year old man with an established career, not a 21 year old newbie just starting out but his SM doesn't reflect that in any way, shape, or form. The sooner D can cut his losses and break free, the better off his career will be, the more adult he will sound, and the happier I will be.

[7ella7]

Choosing submission.

My husband and I have been married for over 10 years.  We got together as teenagers and there’s a lot of love there, but it hasn’t been easy.  We semi-recently had a few fresh-start moments.  A cross-country move, some extremely beneficial marriage counseling, and a pandemic to bring us into the same space 24/7, and all three have been awesome. (I’m not saying the pandemic is awesome, just the extra time we get to spend together.)  

I recently got super vulnerable with him and shared that I want to submit to him.  I’ve always kind of known that I’ve been drawn to the idea of being subject to a man.  I like the idea of being told what to do, how he wants things done, when he wants things done, and being expected to meet his expectations or accept the consequences.  It would help me to know and understand what he wants/needs as well as give me some additional structure.  There are so many things I find appealing about this, but I don’t really understand why/where it comes from, but hopefully over time I’ll be able to understand it better myself.

I told him 2 weeks ago.  We’d been talking about our sex life and how to begin to really re-engage in that relationship aspect with one another after some challenges we’ve had.  I was reading some things online and eventually came across a podcast called Over The Knee and the tumblr pages of @amysubmits and @cynicaldom (Thank you both so much for writing).  It was like a lightbulb went off.  I’d read about domestic discipline before, years ago, and we had tried it for a couple months after we had gotten married, but the way I tried to live submission caused problems in our dynamic.  What I didn’t get from the DD sites back then was that it was okay (or necessary even) to still have my own thoughts/opinions/wants and to express them.  I think I was trying to focus only on what my husband needed/wanted, and push down I wanted/needed.  It seemed at the time like me sharing my wants/needs with him would somehow make my submission less real.  Then, when I listened to the OTK podcast and read their tumblr pages a couple weeks ago, I felt like I understood so much better how a real couple could actually do it successfully and showed me that a submissive partner is not the same a passive partner who lets the relationship and the Dominant partner’s wants and needs be the only thing that exists between them.  It’s a full relationship with active involvement and communication on both sides, but with a power exchange component.  They both make a point about how important it is for him to have that information from her.

It had been over 10 years since we had tried domestic discipline before.  The whole dynamic just kind of fizzled out pretty quickly due to the issues with how we tried to go about it.  We hadn’t talked about it since.  I was so nervous to talk about the idea of trying again that I started the convo through text message.  I sent the text, but we were both in the same room, so I went to clean something in the bathroom so I wouldn’t have to look him in the eye when he read it.  I built up my courage and went back in, but he was still watching TV.  He’d turned his phone on silent and didn’t get it for another hour and a half (it was low-key torture).  I would alternate between different tasks and watching TV with him, trying to relax about it, but feeling like that paragraph of a text message put so much of me out there that made it difficult to even breathe normally at certain points.  I was scared that he wouldn’t be interested at all and that it’d be shut down, but more than that, I was scared that he’d think I was weird and ultimately shut me down, not because he would be cruel about it, but because it had taken so much to be that vulnerable.  It could have been crushing.  I have a really hard time opening up about things like this, and I’m more than a little shy about things that tie into my sexuality.  Yes, even with my husband.  However, marriage counseling and a recent book I read have helped me to be able to make some important moves toward embracing vulnerability.

When he did get the message, he started by reading the tumblr pages, and we listened to an episode of their podcast.  When we talked about it later that afternoon, he actually said he liked a lot of the basic ideas, but he had a lot of questions for me about why, what motivations I had, what I ultimately wanted from the dynamic, etc.  It was a start.  We’ve had maybe 3-4 conversations about it in the last couple weeks, and yesterday we started discussing an initial agreement.  When I asked him what areas of our life he’d like to have authority in, he said he’d like to eventually have my submission in everything.  (It made my heart happy.)  The main things we discussed which areas of our life I’m ready to submit in fully (home life, sex life), and a couple that I am not ready to hand over yet (work life, food, clothes).  We’re trying to be intentional and start slow so we can kind of grow into this.  We also discussed a few rules and expectations that we’re interested in starting with.  We have plenty of ideas, but are starting slowly with 1-3 rules.  I haven’t seen the agreement yet, he’s in the process of writing it up (which also made me happy because he’s taking ownership of some of the process already).  So I wait.  I feel excited and happy and nervous and fluttery and tingly a lot lately.  We’re just at the beginning and we haven’t even officially entered an agreement, but I wanted to catch these events and feelings before we move further into the journey.

There’s like a million more things I could write, but here’s the bullet list for brevity’s sake- and maybe I’ll be able to revisit and expand on some of this later:

I am feeling nervous about diving in- I feel like I’ve wanted this for so long, but what happens if I’m a horrible submissive or really struggle with my stubbornness when it comes time to show my submission through my actions?

I have a markedly higher sex drive than I’ve had in years- I feel like I have the biggest crush on my husband.

Also, somehow while I’ve routinely hated doing things like dishes for the past... well forever I guess.  But when I think about doing them for him, it turns me on a little bit.  Idk if that’s a thing that lasts, but I would love it if that sticks around, haha.

I wonder about how he really feels about everything.  I know he LOVES the idea of traditional gender roles and he’s been clear about that for a long time, but I’m not sure where he falls on the idea of providing discipline.  Is that something he could end up eventually liking?  Maybe not the actual punishment itself, but the effects of it?  Idk.

I wonder how we’ll do- will we be able to avoid some of the problems we had in the beginning by being open communicators even when it’s hard?  Will he stay consistent with me?  Will we both feel the dynamic and value it enough to keep working on it over time?

I worry about being the spouse that brought it up.  I don’t want him to feel like he has to do this.  There are definitely things in his makeup that make me think he’ll be a natural.  I was drawn to him even in high school because he is a good and traditional man.  We share a lot of the same values.  I know a lot of his views align perfectly with this dynamic, but it’s asking a lot of someone to take on that Dominant role.  I just hope that he will find fulfillment there for himself, because I couldn’t continue to ask him to do it if it’s not something he decides on his own that he wants.

I am super happy that I found Tumblr and so many awesome blogs where people have shared so openly what their dynamic looks like.  It’s a great help to feel like there are others out there.

8 June 2020

[do-yall-hear-sumthing]

Playing With Fire: NHL Enforcers, Masculinity, and the Need to Find Acceptance in a Collective Identity

please enjoy the following essay examining the influence masculine identities have in the role of the NHL enforcer!! :)

   One of the most popular youth sports in North America is ice hockey; in a 2014 data collection, nearly 1 million adolescents were reported to be enrolled in hockey programs between Canada and the United States (Bruner et al 175). Research suggests that team sporting environments, such as hockey, are vital to young people as it enables them to begin developing social identities, which ultimately contributes to foundational perceptions of the self (Bruner et al 173-74). Authors Alsarve and Angelin state “Ice hockey is a sport that encourages ‘traditional’ masculine attributes” and cite facets of the sports, such as extreme body contact, fighting, and the emphasis surrounding mental toughness, as primary contributors to this pervasive culture centred around ‘being a man’ (27). Despite fighting being an illegal practice under the rules of hockey, the act of on-ice combat has become a ritualized form of defending the honour of teammates and a means of intimidation towards the opposition (Colburn Jr. 158-67). One role within the National Hockey league (NHL) that truly captures the dominating hyper-masculinity of the sport is that of the enforcer. These specialized players are perceived to be more valuable for their ability to fight and ‘enforce justice’ then they are for their ability to play the sport (Tjønnal 56). The 2016 documentary, Ice Guardians, captures the stories of multiple notorious “enforcer” players. The film details the experiences, and profound struggles, of those thrust into the violent role of the NHL enforcer. The narratives and themes of Ice Guardians can be used to explore how the motivations of these players reflect the need to find acceptance within masculine group identities. 

  In order to contextualize the concept and psychology of a NHL enforcer, one must understand the values that surround the game of hockey and how this role is embedded among masculinity. Kevin Young suggests that the dominant culture within the sport is surrounded by a widely celebrated, yet precarious, expression of masculinity (309). Hockey teaches its players to reject femininity, strive for notoriety, embrace aggression, and defy measures of authority if they stand in the way of goal achievement (Alsarve and Angelin 27-30; MacDonald 97). These particular traits desired, imposed, and reproduced within the institutions of hockey are hallmarks of traditional masculinity. And no other positional role within the sport embodies the violence consumed and validated by masculinity as accurately as that of the NHL enforcer. This niche within the game rewards those who display immense loyalty, dominating physicality, and possess an overall grit to their game (Ice Guardians 55:36-55:58), the role ultimately using hockey’s masculine manifesto as a framework to develop the playing style and personas of its disciples. These men, often romanticized by fans and media, encapsulate the codependency masculinity shares with violence (Tjønnal 64-65), and meticulously embody traditional perceptions on what it means to be a man. The understandings of how the position roots itself in conventional masculinity can be used to analyze how these values influence one’s means of maintaining status within masculine group identities. 

  Whether its within the workplace or a sporting environment, group collectives will not succeed unless there is an established and cohesive identity bonding the individuals together. Moradi et al’s research states “A central aspect of the theory of male reference group identity dependence is that it incorporates sense of connection with other men in a social group -that is male collective identity- into individual men’s self concept.” (418). This theory finds that the identity of a singular man can be reliant on the status and associations he has with his peers in a group environment; this information can be extrapolated to our knowledge of the enforcer players. Public perceptions surrounding those within the role of the enforcer are that the individual does not possess any talent and is simply there to fight (Ice Guardians 51:43-53:47) and some have been labelled as “one trick enforcers” (Tjønnal 63). The negative labels surrounding the enforcer type players discredits their achievements and frame them as inferior to their ‘skilled’ peers.  Martin Kosla’s work involving occupational risk-taking behaviours reveals that such displays are means for men to receive social recognition (389-400). It can be argued that partaking in the acts of fighting, which is central to the role of the enforcer, are examples of occupational risk-taking within the NHL. This is exemplified through the accounts of players within the documentary where extensive injuries, such as shattered bones and limb dislocations, were sustained from their style of play (Ice Guardians 39:20-46:53). These acts of violence committed by these players demonstrates how their identity is associated with that of their collective and to what lengths one will go to feel accepted within that group. These men are told that they are not as valuable as their peers, and overcompensate with violence as a means to gain recognition within the collective identity of the team. They take attributes of masculinity: aggression, strength, and toughness, and wield it in a manner that solidifies their status in the social environment. This extreme expression of the “Us versus Them” mentality elevates the enforcers within the team identity, and gives them a public status equal to that of their peers.  

  Enforcers emphasize loving what they do, more so loving the motivations behind their actions: protecting their teammates, adoration from both peers and fans, and the adrenaline they receive from playing their style of game (59:13-1:00:32). While enforcers were typically well respected within the dressing room, there was an understanding among the players that these individuals were easily replaceable if their performances were not adequate (Ice Guardians 45:50-46:15). The external pressures to perform -and stay within the tribe- manifested itself in many forms for these players but ultimately contributed to feelings of anxiety and inadequacy compared to their peers. In Anne Tjønnal’s narrative analysis of the stories of two notable enforcers, Bob Probert and Derek Boogaard, there was a clear emphasis on how these men both felt extremely pressured to win any fight they were subjected to, no matter the bodily or mental harm it imposed because they feared rejection from the team (62-64). These sentiments are reflected within the documentary as well, with the interviewed players describing the mental exhaustion involved with game preparations. They consistently detail feeling nauseous prior to the start of the game, dedicating hours of mental energy visualizing their prospective fights, and the looming fear of embarrassing themselves in front of their teammates and loved ones (Ice Guardians 42:12-48:24). Through our understandings of their masculine displays of violence, we can discern that these anxieties surrounding lacklustre performances, and the prospect that they may be exiled from the social group, are rooted in their inherent tribalism. If these players lose, they risk being ostracized from the collective group, and due to male self perceptions being closely tied to that of the group (Moradi et al. 418), they face losing their own identity. These individuals then become trapped in a cycle of trying to regain, or maintain, their group status through increasingly violent displays of masculinity. This ultimately demonstrates that enforcers are fuelled by the need to be accepted within the group and their violence is sustained by the culture that created them.

   These men embody the perceived notion of masculinity: they are tough, they are successful, they seek out and deliver justice; they are the exact opposite of what “femininity” looks like in the eyes of traditional masculinity. Yet they struggle. These fiercely loyal and resilient individuals are just like the rest of us, despite what hockey culture tries to sell you. While the enforcers are branded for their ability to be strong, but they carry the weight of negative public perceptions and anxieties surrounding their group status. This pressure to be viewed as an equal and to remain stationed within the dominant group identity fuel the athletic performances of the NHL enforcers. These players place the inherent need to be accepted within a group identity above their wellbeing and structural safety, doing so in a manner that is celebrated by the masses while detrimental to the individual. But they are glad to do so, and if given the chance to repeat their hard-fought journeys, they would “Do it with a little more fire.” (Ice Guardians 1:45:07-1:45:11).  

                                             Works Cited

  Alsarve, Daniel, and Mathias Angelin. “‘It’s Freer and Easier in a Changing Room, Because the Barriers Disappear...’ a Case Study of Masculinity Ideals, Language and Social Status amongst Swedish Ice Hockey Players.” European Journal for Sport & Society, vol. 17, no. 1, Mar. 2020, pp. 27-30. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/16138171.2019.1706239.

  Bruner, Mark W., et al. “Understanding Social Identity and Intrateam Moral Behavior in Competitive Youth Ice Hockey: A Narrative Perspective.” Sport Psychologist, vol. 31, no. 2, June 2017, pp. 173–175. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1123/tsp.2015-0117.

  Kenneth Colburn Jr. “Honor, Ritual and Violence in Ice Hockey.” The Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers Canadiens de Sociologie, vol. 10, no. 2, 1985, p. 158-167. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2307/3340350.

  Ice Guardians. Directed by Brett Harvey, Upstream Film, 2016. Vimeo, uploaded by Air Time Productions, 3 June 2017, https://vimeo.com/220098753. 

  Kosla, Martin T. “The Safety Dance: Men without [Hard] Hats.” Health, Risk & Society, vol. 17, no. 5/6, Aug. 2015, pp. 389–400. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/13698575.2015.1116499.

  MacDonald, Cheryl A. “Masculinity and Sport Revisted: A Review of Literature on Hegemonic Masculinity and Men’s Ice Hockey in Canada.” Canadian Graduate Journal of Sociology and Criminology, vol. 3, no. 1, Apr. 2014, pp. 97. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.853f9c8c76144048eddc0dcb4b1e4cc&site=eds-live&scope=site

  Moradi, Bonnie, et al. “The Theory of Male Reference Group Identity Dependence: Roles of Social Desirability, Masculinity Ideology, and Collective Identity.” Sex Roles, vol. 68, no. 7–8, Jan. 2013, pp. 418. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edscal&AN=edscal.27204889&site=eds-live&scope=site.

  Tjønndal, Anne. “NHL Heavyweights: Narratives of Violence and Masculinity in Ice Hockey.” Physical Culture & Sport. Studies & Research, vol. 70, no. 1, June 2016, pp. 56, 62–65. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=115376878&site=eds-live&scope=site.

  Young, Kevin. “Violence, Risk, and Liability in Male Sports Culture.” Sociology of Sport Journal, vol. 10, no. 4, Dec. 1993, pp. 390. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1123/ssj.10.4.373.

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[newstfionline]

Sunday, April 25, 2021

San Francisco Contends With a Different Sort of Epidemic: Drug Deaths (NYT) The drugs killed them in plain view—in front of the public library, at the spot on Powell Street where the cable car used to turn around. Others died alone in single-room apartments or in camping tents pitched on the pavement, each death adding to an overdose crisis that is one of the worst in the nation. Drug overdoses rose across the country during the coronavirus pandemic. But in San Francisco, they skyrocketed, claiming 713 lives last year, more than double the 257 people here who died of the virus in 2020. For officials in San Francisco, the epidemic of overdose deaths has been both humbling and alarming. Many believe that the city’s preoccupation with the pandemic has eclipsed concern over the drug deaths and blunted the urgency of the moment. “I can say for sure that what we are doing is not working and that it’s getting worse every single day,” said Matt Haney, a member of the city’s Board of Supervisors who represents the Tenderloin, a district of low-income housing in the heart of the city that has seen the most overdoses. “I get offered drugs every time I step outside. It’s overwhelming.”

In historic move, Biden says 1915 massacres of Armenians constitute genocide (Reuters) U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday said the 1915 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire constituted genocide, a historic declaration that infuriated Turkey and is set to further strain already frayed ties between the two NATO allies. The largely symbolic move, breaking away from decades of carefully calibrated language from the White House, will likely to be celebrated by the Armenian diaspora in the United States, but comes at a time when Ankara and Washington have deep policy disagreements over a host of issues. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey “entirely rejects” the U.S. decision which he said was based “solely on populism”. Ties between Ankara and Washington have been strained over issues ranging from Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 defense systems—over which it was the target of U.S. sanctions—to policy differences in Syria, human rights and legal matters.

Ravaged by Covid, Brazil Faces a Hunger Epidemic (NYT) Rail-thin teenagers hold placards at traffic stops with the word for hunger—fome—in large print. Children, many of whom have been out of school for over a year, beg for food outside supermarkets and restaurants. Entire families huddle in flimsy encampments on sidewalks, asking for baby formula, crackers, anything. A year into the pandemic, millions of Brazilians are going hungry. The virus is ripping through Brazil’s social fabric, setting wrenching records, while the worsening health crisis pushes businesses into bankruptcy, killing jobs and further hampering an economy that has grown little or not at all for more than six years.

Baltic states join NATO allies in kicking out Russians for spying (Reuters) Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on Friday joined a fast-growing list of NATO and EU members demanding the removal of Russian diplomats for alleged spying, in actions that have infuriated Moscow and look certain to provoke further retaliation. A spate of tit-for-tat expulsions has plunged ties between Russia and countries of the former Soviet bloc to their lowest point since the fall of Communism, prompting Moscow to accuse at least two of them of deliberately wrecking relations. Lithuania said it was sending two diplomats home and Latvia and Estonia one each. “The EU should have less undercover Russian spies,” Lithuanian foreign affairs minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told reporters.

Cashlessness may have gone foo far in Norway, government warns (Bloomberg) Norway’s government wants to make sure banks don’t stop providing cash, as the country becomes the world leader in abandoning physical notes and coins. The Finance Ministry has told the Financial Supervisory Authority in Oslo to put together a plan that will ensure banks continue offering cash services, according to a statement on Friday. That’s after the FSA’s own survey found that a number of Norwegian banks “claim that they are not responsible for offering cash services.” Banknotes and coins are used in only 3-4 per cent of all transactions in Norway, the lowest level of cash usage in world, according to calculations by Norges Bank. Neighbouring Sweden, another nearly cashless society, has also sounded the alarm amid concerns that the complete disappearance of paper money would pose a number of risks.

Italian Police Accuse Man of Getting Paid for 15 Years While Skipping Work (NYT) A hospital in Italy’s southern region of Calabria fired Salvatore Scumace for not showing up to work. For 15 years. Mr. Scumace, 67, was fired last year from the Pugliese Ciaccio Hospital in the city of Catanzaro, but the news made headlines in Italy this week when Italy’s financial police announced their investigation into his remarkable record of absenteeism. His case was uncovered as part of a wider investigation into absenteeism by public workers. Mr. Scumace is accused of earning an estimated 538,000 euros, or more than $645,000, for a job the police say he never performed over the course of his long and less-than-productive career as a hospital fire-safety employee. A chronic problem in some public sector jobs, the Italian police have cracked down in recent years on no-show employees, investigating dozens of cases around the country.

Coronavirus: India’s daily cases climb to new world record as hospitals overwhelmed (NBC News) India’s coronavirus infections set a new world record for the third consecutive day rising by 346,786 overnight, the health ministry said on Saturday, as overwhelmed hospitals in the densely-populated country begged for oxygen supplies. India is in the grip of a rampaging second wave of the pandemic, hitting a rate of one Covid-19 death just under every four minutes in Delhi, as the capital’s underfunded health system buckles. The government has deployed military planes and trains to get oxygen from the far corners of the country to Delhi. Television images showed an oxygen truck arriving at Delhi’s Batra hospital after it issued an SOS call saying it had 90 minutes of oxygen left for its 260 patients. India surpassed the U.S. record of 297,430 single-day infections anywhere in the world on Thursday, making it the global epicenter of a pandemic that is waning in many other countries. The Indian government had itself declared it had beaten back the coronavirus in February when new cases fell to all-time lows.

Debris From Indonesian Submarine Is Found, Ending Hopes of Rescue (NYT) Debris from an Indonesian Navy submarine that disappeared this past week with 53 people aboard has been found deep in the Bali Sea, confirming fears that the vessel sank and cracked, the navy’s chief of staff said on Saturday. The submarine, the KRI Nanggala-402, disappeared early Wednesday off the Indonesian island of Bali while conducting torpedo drills. Emergency signals to the vessel after it failed to make contact went unanswered. The Nanggala was built to withstand pressure of up to 500 meters deep, but sonar seemed to indicate that the submarine sank to a depth of about 850 meters, well below what is referred to as “crush depth.” At that depth, even the steel hull of a submarine would almost certainly fracture from the pressure.

Jerusalem tension triggers Gaza-Israel fire exchange (AP) Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired some three dozen rockets into Israel overnight Saturday, while the Israeli military struck back at targets operated by the ruling Hamas group. The exchange came as tensions in Jerusalem spilled over into the worst round of cross-border violence in months. The barrage of rocket fire came as hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli police in east Jerusalem. The clashes, in which at least four police and six protesters were injured, have become a nightly occurrence throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and show no signs of stopping. Jerusalem, home to holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, has long been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2014, similar tensions erupted into a 50-day war between Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group.

60% of the world is online (TNW) The new Digital 2021 April Global Statshot Report—published in partnership between Hootsuite and We Are Social—reveals that more than 6 in 10 people on Earth now use the internet. Internet users have grown by more than 330 million over the past year, reaching a total of more than 4.7 billion at the start of April 2021. There are 5.27 billion unique mobile users around the world, which means that more than two-thirds of all the people on Earth now have a mobile phone.

Can We Learn to Live With Germs Again? (NYT) For more than a century—since scientists first learned that unseen germs cause infection and illness—we’ve tended to think of sterile environments as the safe ones. And at the start of the outbreak, when we didn’t know any better, it was sensible to disinfect as much as possible, including our groceries, clothing and personal spaces. It took time for coronavirus researchers to figure out that the risk of surface transmission is low—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only recently pegged it at generally less than one in 10,000. Despite the now consensus recognition that air transmission, not surface spread, is more important, most pandemic sanitation practices have continued. We continue to annihilate every microbe in our midst, even though most are harmless. The New York City subway, for example, has been undergoing a 24-hour cleaning protocol that includes ultraviolet light and a variety of disinfecting solutions.      But some health experts are watching this ongoing onslaught with a mounting sense of dread. They fear that many of the measures we’ve employed to stop the virus may pose a threat to human health in the long run if they continue. Their worries center on the human microbiome—the trillions of bacteria that live on and inside our bodies. They say that excessive hygiene practices, inappropriate antibiotic use and lifestyle changes such as distancing may weaken those communities going forward in ways that promote sickness and imperil our immune systems. By sterilizing our bodies and spaces, they argue, we may be doing more harm than good. “We’re starting to realize that there’s collateral damage when we get rid of good microbes, and that has major consequences for our health,” says B. Brett Finlay, a professor in the department of microbiology and immunology at the University of British Columbia.

[gusgrissom]

1. Apollo 11

Date: July 16-24, 1969 (8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes, 35 seconds)

Crew: Neil Alden Armstrong, Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins

Mission Highlights: Oh, where to begin?!

On July 16, at 9:32 am, Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy with the mighty Saturn V. Over one million people witnessed the launch in person, and millions more watched live coverage on television or listened on the radio. On the second orbit of the Earth, the crew performed the trans-lunar injection (TLI) burn and docked with the LM, beginning their historic journey. Apollo 11 reached the moon on July 19, the third day of the flight. The crew spent several hours in lunar orbit, observing the moon and preparing for the descent.

The next day, July 20, Neil and Buzz entered the LM, nicknamed Eagle, and separated from the Mike and the CSM Columbia. After final checks to ensure the well-being of the LM, the Eagle began its final descent to the lunar surface. Their approach was too fast, and program alarms began alerting the crew to “executive overflow” issues. Neil took semi-automatic control of the spacecraft to pilot the spacecraft to a flatter, less rocky area, while Buzz reported navigational data. With only seconds of fuel left, Eagle landed on the lunar surface, in the Sea of Tranquility, at 4:17 pm on July 20, 1969. CAPCOM Charlie Duke in Houston, along with the rest of the world, let out a collective sigh of relief: “Roger, Twank-Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot.”

Almost immediately, the crew began to prepare for the EVA. Buzz Aldrin took communion, the first lunar liturgy. He reported back to Earth: “I’d like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.” Over three hours later, longer than initially planned, Neil and Buzz were ready to exit Eagle. Much pre-flight debate had resulted in the decision that Neil would be first out of the LM.

Over 600 million people across his home planet watched as Neil Alden Armstrong descended the ladder. At 10:56 pm on July 20, he stepped onto the surface of the moon and spoke perhaps the most famous quote in history: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Shortly thereafter Buzz followed him onto the surface, and they got to work planting the American flag, speaking to the President of the United States, collecting samples, and performing experiments. The EVA lasted two and a half hours. Shortly before reentering the LM, Buzz and Neil dropped a small package containing a small, gold olive branch, messages from world leaders, two medallions in honor of Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov, and an Apollo 1 patch commemorating Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.

Neil and Buzz returned to the LM, their home on the moon, exhausted and forever enshrined in history. After several hours of rest and preparation, they ascended from the lunar surface (knocking over the flag in the process) and rejoined Mike Collins and Columbia in lunar orbit. Mike had been working hard, and also enjoying his peace and quiet (and coffee) as “the loneliest man in the world.” Observing Earthrise over the lunar horizon, he was one man looking at 3.61 billion (including the two on the moon), what an incredible view. Eagle docked with Columbia at 5:35 pm on July 21, Neil and Buzz returned to the CSM, and Eagle was jettisoned, falling back to the moon.

Apollo 11 made the three day journey back home, which included a live television broadcast to Earth. On July 24, the crew splashed down in the Pacific and was recovered by the USS Hornet. After spending three weeks in quarantine, Neil, Buzz, and Mike were released to the world, traveling the planet on a whirlwind international tour, celebrated by millions of people in over 20 countries. Celebrations of Apollo 11 have lasted much longer than that 40-day tour, however, as the mission is one of the greatest achievements in human history. G-d bless the crew of Apollo 11, and all of us on this Good Earth.

Significance: It’s difficult to put into words the significance of Apollo 11. It goes beyond the technical accomplishments of one mission, one country over another. President John F. Kennedy’s goal of putting a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth before the end of the decade was met, an incredible achievement, but it meant so much more than that. Apollo 11 was both a deeply unifying moment for all of humanity and an intensely personal one for millions of people.

Many brilliant words have been spoken by many brilliant people about the importance of humankind’s first venture into space, too many to begin to cover here. But these simple words, spoken during the first conversation between human beings on different celestial bodies, sum it up quite nicely:

“Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man’s world. And as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to Earth. For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this Earth are truly one.” -President Richard M. Nixon (on Earth), speaking to Neil and Buzz on the surface of the moon, July 20, 1969