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yamayuandadu · 3 years

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The Two (or more) Ishtars or A Certain Scandalous Easter Claim Proved to be The Worship of Reverend Alexander Hislop

Once upon a time the official facebook page of Richard Dawkins' foundation posted a graphic according to which the holiday of Easter is just a rebranded celebration of the Mesopotamian mythology superstar Ishtar, arguing that the evidence is contained in its very name. As everyone knows, Dawkins is an online talking head notable for discussing his non-belief in such an euphoric way that it might turn off even the most staunch secularists and for appearing in some reasonably funny memes about half a decade ago. Bizarrely enough, however, the same claim can be often found among the crowds dedicated to crystal healing, Robert Graves' mythology fanfiction, indigo children and similar dubiously esoteric content. What's yet more surprising is that once in a while it shows up among a certain subset of fundamentalist Christians, chiefly the types who believe giants are real (and, of course, satanic), the world is ruled by a secret group of Moloch worshipers and fossils were planted by the devil to led the sheeple astray from the truth about earth being 6000 years old, tops. Of course, to anyone even just vaguely familiar with Christianity whose primary language isn't English this claim rightfully seems completely baffling – after all it's evident in most languages that the name of the holiday celebrating Jesus' resurrection, and many associated customs, are derived from the earlier Jewish Pascha (Passover) which has nothing to do with Ishtar other than having its origin in the Middle East. Why would the purported association only be evident in English and not in Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Spanish, virtually any language other than English and its close relatives – languages which generally didn't have anything to do with Mesopotamia or early christianity? Read on to find out what sort of sources let this eclectic selection of characters arrive to the same baffling conclusion, why are they hilariously wrong, and – most importantly – where you can actually find a variety of Ishtars (or at least reasonably Ishtar-like figures) under different names instead.

The story of baffling Easter claims begins in Scotland in the 19th century. A core activity of theologians in many faiths through history was (and sometimes still is) finding alleged proof of purported “idolatry” or other “impure” practices among ideological opponents, even these from within the same religion – and a certain Presbyterian minister, Alexander Hislop, was no stranger to this traditional pastime. Like many Protestants in this period, he had an axe to grind with the catholic church - though not for the reasons many people are not particularly fond of this institution nowadays. What Hislop wanted to prove was much more esoteric – he believed that it's the Babylon known from the Book of Revelations. Complete with the beast with seven heads, blasphemous names and other such paraphernalia, of course. This wasn't a new claim – catholicism was equated with the New Testament Babylon for as long as Protestantism was a thing (and earlier catholicism itself regarded other religions as representing it). What set Hislop apart from dozens of other similar attempts like that was that he fancied himself a scholar of history and relied on the brand new accounts of excavations in what was once the core sphere of influence of the Assyrian empire (present day Iraq and Syria), supplemented by various Greek and Roman classics – though also by his own ideas, generally varying from baseless to completely unhinged. Hislop compiled his claims in the book The Two Babylons or The Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife. You can find it on archive.org if you want to torment yourself and read the entire thing – please do not give clicks directly to any fundie sites hosting it though. How does the history of Easter and Ishtar look like according to Hislop? Everything started with Semiramis, who according to his vision was a historical figure and a contemporary of Noah's sons, here also entirely historical. Semiramis is either entirely fictional or a distorted Greek and Roman account of the 9th century BC Assyrian queen Shammuramat, who ruled as a regent for a few years after the death of her husband Shamshi Adad V – an interesting piece of historical trivia, but arguably not really a historical milestone, and by the standards of Mesopotamian history she's hardly a truly ancient figure. Hislop didn't even rely on the primary sources dealing with the legend of Semiramis though, but with their medieval christian interpretations, which cast her in the role of an adulterer first and foremost due to association of ancient Mesopotamia with any and all vices.

Hislop claims that Semiramis was both the Whore of Babylon from the Book of Revelations and the first idolater, instituting worship of herself as a goddess. This goddess, he argues, was Astarte (a combination of two flimsy claims – Roman claim that Semiramis' name means “dove” and now generally distrusted assumption that Phoenician Astarte had the same symbols as Greek Aphrodite) and thus Ishtar, but he also denotes her as a mother goddess – which goes against everything modern research has to say about Ishtar, of course. However, shoddy scholarship relying on few sources was the norm at the time, and Hislop on top of that was driven by religious zeal. In further passages, he identified this “universal mother” with Phrygian Cybele, Greek Rhea and Athena, Egyptian Isis, Taoist Xi Wangmu (sic) and many more, pretty much at random, arguing all of them were aspects of nefarious Semiramis cult which infected all corners of the globe. He believed that she was venerated alongside a son-consort, derived from Semiramis' even more fictional husband Ninus (a mythical founder of Assyria according to Greek authors, absent from any Mesopotamian sources; his name was derived from Nineveh, not from any word for son like Hislop claims), who he identifies with biblical Nimrod (likewise not a historical figure, probably a distorted reflection of the god Ninurta). Note the similarity with certain ideas perpetrated by Frazer's Golden Bough and his later fans like Jung, Graves and many neopagan authors – pseudohistory, regardless of ideological background, has a very small canon of genuinely original claims. Ishtar was finally introduced to Britain by “druids” (note once again the similarity to the baffling integration of random Greek, Egyptian or Mesopotamian deities into Graves-derived systems of fraudulent trivia about “universal mother goddesses” often using an inaccurate version of Celtic myths as framework). This eventually lead to the creation of the holiday of Easter. Pascha doesn't come up in the book at all, as far as I can tell. All of this is basically just buildup for the book's core shocking reveal: catholic veneration of Mary and depictions of Mary with infant Jesus in particular are actually the worship of Semiramis and her son-consort Ninus, and only the truly faithful can reveal this evil purpose of religious art. At least so claims Hislop. This bizarre idea is laughable, but it remains disturbingly persistent – do you remember the Chick Tracts memes from a few years ago, for example? These comics were in part inspired by Hislop's work. Many fundamentalist christian communities appear to hold his confabulations in high esteem up to this day – and many people who by design see themselves as a countercultural opposition to christianity independently gleefully embrace them, seemingly ignorant of their origin. While there are many articles debunking Hislop's claim about Easter, few of them try to show how truly incomprehensibly bad his book is as a whole – hopefully the following examples will be sufficient to illustrate this point: -Zoroaster is connected to Moloch because of the Zoroastrian holy fire - and Moloch is, of course Ninus. Note that while a few Greek authors believed Zoroaster to be the “king of Bactria” mythical accounts presented as a contemporary of Ninus, the two were regarded as enemies – Hislop doesn't even follow the pseudohistory he uses as proof! -Zoroaster is also Tammuz. Tammuz is, of course, yet another aspect of Ninus. -demonic character is ascribed to relics of the historical Buddha; also he's Osiris. And Ninus. -an incredibly racist passage explains why the biblical Nimrod (identified with – you guessed it - Ninus) might be regarded as “ugly and deformed” like Haephestus and thus identical to him (no, it makes no sense in context either) - Hislop thinks he was black (that's not the word he uses, naturally) which to him is the same thing. -Attis is a deification of sin itself -the pope represents Dagon (incorrectly interpreted as a fish god in the 19th century) -Baal and Bel are two unrelated words – this is meant to justify the historicity of the Tower of Babel by asserting it was built by Ninus, who was identical to Bel (in reality a title of Marduk); Bel, according to Hislop, means “the confounder (of languages)” rather than “lord” -the term “cannibal” comes from a made up term for priests of Baal (Ninus) who according to Hislop ate children. In reality it's a Spanish corruption of the endonym of one of the first tribes encountered by the Spanish conquerors in America, and was not a word used in antiquity – also, as I discussed in my Baal post, the worship of Baal did not involve cannibalism. This specific claim of Hislop's is popular with the adherents of prophetic doomsday cult slash wannabe terrorist group QAnon today, and shows up on their “redpilling” graphics. -Ninus was also Cronos; Cronos' name therefore meant “horned one” in reference to Mesopotamian bull/horned crown iconography and many superficially similar gods from all over the world were the same as him - note the similarity to Margaret Murray's obsession with her made up idea of worldwide worship of a “horned god” (later incorporated into Wicca). -Phaeton, Orpheus and Aesculapius are the same figure and analogous to Lucifer (and in turn to Ninus) -giants are real and they're satanists (or were, I think Hislop argues they're dead already). They are (were?) also servants of Ninus. -as an all around charming individual Hislop made sure to include a plethora of comments decrying the practices of various groups at random as digressions while presenting his ridiculous theories – so, while learning about the forbidden history of Easter, one can also learn why the author thinks Yezidi are satanists, for example -last but not least, the very sign of the cross is not truly christian but constitutes the worship of Tammuz, aka Ninus (slowly losing track of how many figures were regarded as one and the same as him by Hislop). Based on the summary above it's safe to say that Hislop's claim is incorrect – and, arguably, malevolent (and as such deserves scrutiny, not further possibilities for spreading). However, this doesn't answer the question where does the name of Easter actually come from? As I noted in the beginning, in English (and also German) it's a bit of an oddity – it actually was derived from a preexisting pagan term, at least if we are to believe the word of the monk Bede, who in the 8th century wrote that the term is a derivative of “Eosturmonath,” eg. “month of Eostre” - according to him a goddess. There are no known inscriptions mentioning such a goddess from the British Isles or beyond, though researchers involved in reconstructing proto-indo-european language assume that “Eostre” would logically be a derivative of the same term as the name of the Greek Eos and of the vedic Ushas, and the Austriahenae goddesses from Roman inscriptions from present day Germany – eg. a word simply referring to dawn, and by extension to a goddess embodying it. This is a sound, well researched theory, so while early medieval chroniclers sometimes cannot be trusted, I see no reason to doubt Bede's account.

While Ushas is a prominent goddess in the Vedas, Eos was rather marginal in Greek religion (see her Theoi entry for details), and it's hard to tell to what degree Bede's Eostre was similar to either of them beyond plausibly being a personification of dawn. Of course, the hypothetical proto-indo-european dawn goddess all of these could be derived from would have next to nothing to do with Ishtar. While the history of the name of Easter (though not the celebration itself) is undeniably interesting, I suppose it lacks the elements which make the fake Ishtar claim a viral hit – the connection is indirect, and an equivalent of the Greek Eos isn't exactly exciting (Eos herself is, let be honest, remembered at best as an obscure part of the Odyssey), while Ishtar is understood by many as “wicked” sex goddess (a simplification, to put it very lightly) which adds a scandalous, sacrilegious dimension to the baffling lie, explaining its appeal to Dawkins' fans, arguably. As demonstrated above, Hislop's theories are false and adapting them for any new context – be it christian, atheist or neopagan – won't change that, but are there any genuine examples of, well, “hidden Ishtars”? If that's the part of the summary which caught your attention, rejoice – there is a plenty of these to be found in Bronze Age texts. I'd go as far as saying that most of ancient middle eastern cultures from that era felt compelled to include an Ishtar ersatz in their pantheons. Due to the popularity of the original Ishtar, she was almost a class of figures rather than a single figure – a situation almost comparable to modern franchising, when you think about it. The following figures can be undeniably regarded as “Ishtar-like” in some capacity or even as outright analogs:

Astarte (or Ashtart, to go with a more accurate transcription of the oldest recorded version of the name) – the most direct counterpart of Ishtar there is: a cognate of her own name. Simply, put Astarte is the “Levantine”equivalent of the “Mesopotamian” Ishtar. In the city of Mari, the names were pretty much used interchangeably, and some god lists equate them, though Astarte had a fair share of distinct traits. In Ugaritic mythology, which forms the core of our understanding of the western Semitic deities, she was a warrior and hunter (though it's possible that in addition to conventional weapons she was also skilled at wielding curses), and was usually grouped with Anat. Both of them were regarded as the allies of Baal, and assist him against his enemies in various myth. They also were envisioned to spend a lot of time together – one ritual calls them upon as a pair from distant lands where they're hunting together, while a fragmentary myth depicts both of them arriving in the household of the head god El and taking pity on Yarikh, the moon god, seemingly treated as a pariah. Astarte's close relation to Baal is illustrated by her epithet, “face of Baal” or “of the name of Baal.” They were often regarde as a couple and even late, Hellenic sources preserve a traditional belief that Astarte and “Adados” (Baal) ruled together as a pair. In some documents from Ugarit concerned with what we would call foreign policy today they were invoked together as the most prominent deities. It's therefore possible that she had some role related to human politics. She was regarded as exceptionally beautiful and some texts favorably describe mortal women's appearance by comparing them to Astarte. In later times she was regarded as a goddess of love, but it's unclear if that was a significant aspect of her in the Bronze Age. It's equally unclear if she shared Ishtar's astral character – in Canaan there were seemingly entirely separate dawn and dusk deities. Despite clamis you might see online, Astarte was not the same as the mother goddess Asherah. In the Baal cycle they actually belong to the opposing camps. Additionally, the names are only superficially similar (one starts with an aleph, the other with an ayin) and have different etymology. Also, that famous sculpture of a very blatantly Minoan potnia theron? Ugaritic in origin but not a depiction of either Astarte or Asherah.

The Egyptians, due to extensive contact with Canaan and various Syrian states in the second half of the Bronze Age, adapted Astarte (and by extension Anat) into their own pantheon. Like in Ugarit, her warrior character was emphasized. An Egyptian innovation was depicting her as a cavalry goddess of sorts – associated with mounted combat and chariots. In Egypt, Ptah, the head god of Memphis and divine craftsman, was regarded as her father. In most texts, Astarte is part of Seth's inner circle of associates – however, in this context Seth wasn't the slayer of Osiris, but a heroic storm god similar to Baal. The so-called Astarte papyrus presents an account of a myth eerily similar to the Ugaritic battle between Baal and Yam – starring Seth as the hero, with Astarte in a supporting role resembling that played by Shaushka, another Ishtar analog, in the Hittite song of Hedammu, which will be discussed below.

Shaushka – a Hurrian and Hittite goddess whose name means “the magnificent one” in the Hurrian language. Hurrian was widely spoken in ancient Mesopotamia and Anatolia (and in northernmost parts of the Levant – up to one fifth of personal names from Ugaritic documents were Hurrian iirc), but has no descendants today and its relation to any extant languages is uncertain. In Hittite texts she was often referred to with an “akkadogram” denoting Ishtar's name (or its Sumerian equivalent) instead of a phonetic spelling of her own (there was an analogous practice regarding the sun gods), while in Egyptian and Syrian texts there are a few references to “Ishtar Hurri” - “Ishtar of the Hurrians” - who is argued by researchers to be one and the same as Shaushka. Despite Shaushka's Hurrian name and her prominence in myths popular both among Hittites and Hurrians, her main cult center was the Assyrian city of Nineveh, associated with Ishtar herself as well, and there were relatively few temples dedicated to her in the core Hittite sphere of influence in Anatolia. Curiously, both the oldest reference to Shaushka and to the city of Nineveh come from the same text, stating that a sheep was sacrificed to her there. While most of her roles overlap with Ishtar's (she too was associated with sex, warfare and fertility), here are two distinct features of Shaushka that set her apart as unique: one is the fact she was perceived in part as a masculine deity, despite being consistently described as a woman – in the famous Yazılıkaya reliefs she appears twice, both among gods and goddesses. In Alalakh she was depicted in outfits combining elements of male and female clothing. Similar fashion preferences were at times attributed to Ninshubur, the attendant of Ishtar's Sumerian forerunner Inanna – though in that case they were likely the result of conflation of Ninshubur with the male messenger deity Papsukkal, while in the case of Shaushka the dual nature seems to be inherent to her (I haven't seen any in depth study of this matter yet, sadly, so I can't really tell confidently which modern term in my opinion describes Shaushka's character the best). Her two attendants, musician goddesses Ninatta and Kulitta, do not share it. Shaushka's other unique niche is her role in exorcisms and incantations, and by extension with curing various diseases – this role outlived her cult itself, as late Assyrian inscriptions still associated the “Ishtar of Nineveh” (at times viewed as separate from the regular Ishtar) with healing. It can be argued that even her sexual aspect was connected to healing, as she was invoked to cure impotence. The most significant myth in which she appears is the cycle dedicated to documenting the storm god's (Teshub for the Hurrians, Tarhunna for the Hittites) rise to power. Shaushka is depicted as his sister and arguably most reliable ally, and plays a prominent role in two sections in particular – the Song of Hedammu and the Song of Ullikummi. In the former, she seemingly comes up with an elaborate plan to defeat a new enemy of her brother - the sea monster Hedammu - by performing a seductive dance and song montage (with her attendants as a support act) and offering an elixir to him. The exact result is uncertain, but Hedammu evidently ends up vanquished. In the latter, she attempts to use the same gambit against yet another new foe, the “diorite man” Ullikummi – however, since he is unfeeling like a rock, she fails; some translators see this passage as comedic. However, elsewhere in the Song, the storm god's main enemy Kumarbi and his minions view Shaushka as a formidable warrior, and in the early installment of the cycle, Song of LAMMA, she seemingly partakes in a fight. In another myth, known only from a few fragments and compared to the Sumerian text “Inanna and the huluppu tree,” Shaushka takes care of “Ḫašarri” - a personification of olive oil, or a sentient olive tree. It seems that she has to protect this bizarre entity from various threats. While Shaushka lived on in Mesopotamia as “Ishtar of Nineveh,” this was far from the only “variant”of Ishtar in her homeland.

Nanaya was another such goddess. A few Sumerian hymns mention her alongside Inanna, the Sumerian equivalent of Ishtar, by the time of Sargon of Akkad virtually impossible to separate from her. As one composition puts it, Nanaya was “properly educated by holy Inana” and “counselled by holy Inana.” Initially she was most likely a part of Inanna's circle of deities in her cult center, Uruk, though due to shared character they eventually blurred together to a large degree. Just like Inanna/Ishtar, Nanaya was a goddess of love, described as beautiful and romantically and sexually active, and she too had an astral character. She was even celebrated during the same holidays as Inanna. Some researchers go as far as suggest Nanaya was only ever Inanna/Ishtar in her astral aspect alone and not a separate goddess. However, there is also evidence of her, Inanna and the sky god An being regarded as a trinity of distinct tutelary deities in Uruk. Additionally, king Melishipak's kudurru shown above shows both Nanaya (seated) and Ishtar/Inanna (as a star). Something peculiar to Nanaya was her later association with the scribe god Nabu. Sometimes Nabu's consort was the the goddess Tashmetu instead, but I can't find any summary explaining potential differences between them – it seems just like Nanaya, she was a goddess of love, including its physical aspects. Regardless of the name used to describe Nabu's wife, she was regarded as a sage and scribe like him – this arguably gives her a distinct identity she lacked in her early role as part of Inanna's circle. As the above examples demonstrate, the popularity of the “Ishtar type” was exceptional in the Bronze Age – but is it odd from a modern perspective? The myths dedicated to her are still quite fun to read today – much like any hero of ancient imagination she has a plethora of adversaries, a complex love life (not to mention many figures not intended to be read as her lovers originally but described in such terms that it's easy to see them this way today – including other women), a penchant for reckless behavior – and most importantly a consistent, easy to summarize character. She shouldn't be a part of modern mass consciousness only because of false 19th century claims detached from her actual character (both these from Hislop's works and “secular”claims about her purported “real”character based on flimsy reasoning and shoddy sources) – isn't a female character who is allowed to act about the same way as male mythical figures do without being condemned for it pretty much what many modern mythology retellings try to create? Further reading: On Astarte: -entry in the Iconography of Deities and Demons in Ancient Near East database by Izak Cornelius -‛Athtart in Late Bronze Age Syrian Texts by Mark S. Smith -ʿAthtartu’s Incantations and the Use of Divine Names as Weapons by Theodore J. Lewis -The Other Version of the Story of the Storm-god’s Combat with the Sea in the Light of Egyptian, Ugaritic, and Hurro-Hittite Texts by Noga Ayali-Darshan -for a summary of evidence that Astarte has nothing to do with Asherah see A Reassessment of Asherah With Further Considerations of the Goddess by Steve A. Wiggins On Shaushka: -Adapting Mesopotamian Myth in Hurro-Hittite Rituals at Hattuša: IŠTAR, the Underworld, and the Legendary Kings by Mary R. Bacharova -Ishtar seduces the Sea-serpent. A new join in the epic of Ḫedammu (KUB 36, 56 + 95) and its meaning for the battle between Baal and Yam in Ugaritic tradition by Meindert Dijkstra -Ištar of Nineveh Reconsidered by Gary Beckman -Shaushka, the Traveling Goddess by Graciela Gestoso Singer -Hittite Myths by Harry A. Hoffner jr. -The Hurritic Myth about Šaušga of Nineveh and Ḫašarri (CTH 776.2) by Meindert Dijkstra -The West Hurian Pantheon and its Background by Alfonso Archi On Nanaya: -entry in Brill’s New Pauly by Thomas Richter -entry from the Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses project by Ruth Horry -A tigi to Nanaya for Ishbi-Erra from The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature -A balbale to Inana as Nanaya from The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature -More Light on Nanaya by Michael P. Streck and Nathan Wasserman -More on the Nature and History of the Goddess Nanaya by Piotr Steinkeller A few introductory Ishtar/Inanna myths: -Inanna's descent to the netherworld -Inanna and the huluppu tree -Inanna and Enki -Enki and the world order -Inanna and Ebih -Dumuzid and Enkimdu

#mesopotamian mythology #sumerian mythology #inanna #ishtar #astarte

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quanf99 · 4 years

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Sovereign Citizens, and the Definitely Not Real Global Domination Pandemic

It was 12:40am when I got out of bed to check my mail box, behind yet another fridge magnet from Josh Frydenberg was a postcard from the Protector Party, a political awareness group warning of a ploy by governments to control the masses through the current coronavirus pandemic, or something along those lines. The Protector Party are tied to the resurgence of sovereign citizens, members of society who believe they may choose exemption from the laws of society, a right supposedly outlined in the Magna Carta. While fringe political beliefs have always floated around, they're gaining traction in Australia after strict lock down laws imposed by the Andrews government. I was familiar with such ideas, but this was the first time I'd encountered said ideas in my mail box. I decided to look into sovereign citizenry some more, who were they? And what gave them the right to leave insane post cards in my mail box?

For many residents of Melbourne, Dan Andrews tough lockdown laws herald the rise of an all-powerful authoritarian state. These laws have made it illegal for people to visit other households, or leave home past 8pm, they force Melbournians to wear face masks when leaving home. Democracy is truly at threat when I can't order from the McDonalds drive-thru at 12am. Fighting on the frontlines against totalitarianism is a group calling themselves sovereign citizens or, Freeman of the Land. Freemen argue that laws only apply to corporations, which on their terms include the government. Birth certificates are a contract with the government as corporation and only apply to a person if he or she consents to it. This sort of imaginary legal argument has existed long before the coronavirus pandemic and Dan "Stalin" Andrews' lockdown, cropping up whenever somebody gets summoned to court for unpaid driving tickets. Recently these pseudo-legal ideas have gained traction via Facebook groups. Through social media, thousands of middle-aged Australians are rallying behind the cause, who else will defend our rights to get pissed in the backyard on a Friday night. I thought I'd join one of these groups to get a read on the sovereign citizens. I found one group, Truth and the Unknown - Australia, it tends to focus on conspiracy theories in general but has recently shifted to uncovering the facts regarding coronavirus. The discussion surrounding the pandemic comes from livestreams of really intelligent looking people explaining to audiences that, coronavirus is not a virus, that even if it was viruses can't be caught by body, that coronavirus mortality rate is so low, no one should be worried even if they do catch it, despite 894 people dying in Australia. Unsurprisingly almost all of the information posted in Truth and the Unknown - Australia, contains no sources backing up any of the information provided. Discussion then shifts to memes explaining how 5G internet connections weaken the body making it more susceptible to coronavirus, a virus that isn't actually a virus, and even if it was you can't catch it. Further down the rabbit hole, GMO foods, vaccines causing autism, Rockefellers and Freemasons, government ties to Satanic cults and Bohemian Grove. All of this was mildly funny and maybe a little disturbing, but I was having trouble finding any concrete political ideas from any of these sovereign citizens. I decided to get in contact with the man who first sent me down this rabbit hole, that's when I got in touch with John Tiger Casley, leader of the Protector Party. Mr Casley is an older man, he speaks in old Australian figures of speech which find a balance somewhere between endearing and condescending, responding to you with phrases like "Alright young fella". Mr Casley used to be a history teacher, he now resides in Brighton presumably retired, spending his time making YouTube videos and sending people weird post cards. I asked "What do you think the end goal supposedly is for this deep state?" to which he replied "I believe their goal is psychopathic humanoid control over human bodies via violent injections and 5G, as well as human perception through media propaganda and AI." Q: Do you think this current climate of politics, sovereign citizens, and a general openness to these ideas will result in positive changes to politics in Australia? J: I believe it depends on the amount of human power given away to the Psychopathic Humanoids in JFK's Monolithic Conspiracy, although I've never known opportunity for political engagement to be higher. Q: How did you first become aware of things like, JFK's Monolithic Conspiracy? J: I began reading, gratefully, the logic, evidence, experiences and suffering of the most amazing mind of this century - David Icke's. While my interview with Mr Casely was interesting it revealed little in the way of concrete political beliefs, again it felt more like I was hearing a conspiracy theory check list be ticked off, rather than any solid politics. I decided to look into David Icke afterwards. Icke is a former football player from the UK, who writes about an inter-dimensional race of reptilians who run the Illuminati and have hijacked the Earth. These reptilians are known as the Anunnaki, ancient Sumerian deities of the Underworld. Again the formula for these ideas feels tried and true, pick an ancient pre-Judeo Christian deity (preferably from Mesopotamia) and center them around a secret shadow government conspiracy to rule the world. Whether its democrats sacrificing babies to Moloch, or underground Illuminati lizard men, the pattern feels obvious. Next I spoke to Zac Galloway, a practicing lawyer with a law degree from University of Tasmania. After moving to Melbourne a few years back, Mr Galloway has become active in promoting the truth about the pandemic through platforms like Facebook. I figured Mr Galloway would have to be well educated if he was a practicing lawyer, and should be able to back up his views better than the average Facebook conspiracy theorist. Q: I'm interested to know, are you connected to any particular groups or organisations? Mr Galloway: I'm not connected with any organisations, although I do follow a few Facebook pages where people share and spread information. I don't believe everything that gets spread in these groups and take most of it with a grain of salt however. Q: Do you believe the virus is real? Or a ploy by the government towards some other agenda? Z: I believe the virus is real but our perception of it is far from the truth. There seems to be overwhelming evidence the virus was man made and originated in a laboratory. Whether this was done intentionally doesn't matter as much to me, I think there's a clear agenda from government worldwide involving mass control and surveillance of the population. Q: Have friends and family been receptive to your message, or do you find a lot of push back regarding your ideas? Z: I find a mix of responses, I've got many people who message me frequently to show support, wishing they were brave enough to speak up. Q: What do you think the rising trend of belief in the sovereign citizen movement says about Australia's current political climate? Z: I think it shows that people are willing to stand up for their rights which to me is a no brainer. There's a very slippery slope between freedom and tyranny and when people voluntarily give up their rights so easily I become gravely concerned. To me it is good that people are willing to stand up for their rights. Although I think much of what he said was shaky at best I was glad someone could give me answers beyond vague gestures to Moloch and vaccines. I don't want to give Mr Galloway too much credit though, perhaps there's something even more troubling in the way he dresses up blatant disregard for the social contract as 'logical reasoning'. It can be harder to discredit arguments about Daniel 'Karl Marx' Andrews using coronavirus hysteria to destroy the economy, when they have more formal validity. And one can't avoid the irony of someone who supports sovereign citizenry, utilising his institutionally given power to practice the law. Regardless of the validity behind any of the ideas I've gone over here, these ideas and their rising popularity represent something more troubling, perhaps more disappointing. It's undeniable that society is structured to segregate the common person from the powerful, while every day people are led along by the false promise of enough hard and honest work, those born into wealth use loop holes to consolidate their position on the throne. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to be mistrusting of governments and those in power, reasons that don't have anything to do with mass mind control, vaccines, 5G towers or ancient sub-terranean lizard people. I spoke to Dr Lauren Rosewarne, cultural commentator and lecturer at Melbourne University. Q: Do you think the popularity of the sovereign citizen movement ties in with the rise of conspiracy theories coming closer to public consciousness? Things like the death of Jeffrey Epstein, or Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Elections? Dr Rosewarne: Sovereign citizens are nothing new in Australia. The internet however, has enabled them to connect, recruit and have a public platform for their views thus giving them greater visibility. Q: Do you think the rising visibility of such a platform, and these sorts of fringe political ideas in general, might suggest deeper political unrest in society? L: I'd be more inclined to say that Covid serves as a rallying cry for these people in a way that few previous events have. Whether that persists as unrest in a post-Covid world, only time will tell. When people take up these conspiracy theories, its disappointing to see how close to the nerve they hit, clearly something larger than everyday people puts us on an uneven playing field. Why then, do we look for answers beyond the real quantifiable structural devices that shape society? There are many complex reasons, the simplest one being that its much easier, much less ambiguous to imagine some sinister, wholly evil force is pulling things behind the scenes. It's easy to laugh at conspiracy theorists, a lot of the things I've seen people post are honestly insane. However, I think it's worth remembering too, that when people start believing these theories, a part of them must recognise the way things are really stacked against us, and from that place maybe we can hope that more people are on the path to greater political consciousness. Or who knows, maybe the democrats really do drink the blood of newborns in exchange for eternal youth.

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my-never-ending-nightmare · 4 years

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03/17/2021 (II)

Coincidences always mess with my head because the emotional side of my mind wants to believe that they don’t exist and that everything in this universe happens for a reason and that I can derive some meaning from it - but then the rational side kicks in and lets me know just how crazy that line of thinking of is and that anything, no matter how small the odds, is still possible because the universe is just that random and meaningless. I want to believe the former because it’s comforting, but I’m compelled to believe the latter even though that fills me with nihilistic despair. This can all really suck me into a downward spiral if I overthink it too much. So even though I still feel at a loss for words over this morning’s coincidence, I think I may as well try to get this down right now so that I don’t exhaust too much mental energy on this particular topic the rest of the day.

I’m sitting on my computer this morning eating breakfast and watching youtube like I usually do every morning, about an hour or so after writing what I wrote previously. Lately I’ve watching this obscure English speaking Malaysian youtuber who does these expert playthroughs of an obscure late 90’s video game that masterfully blended ancient Roman history & Roman aesthetics with a city builder sim – the masterpiece that is Caesar III. Probably my third most played game as a child, right after DOOM and Duke3D respectively. Anyway, really impressed by how well he understands the game and intrigued by his rather unique personality so I decided to try to find his twitch link so that I could follow him there, too. Noticed in the info section he had a link to his Spotify account so I head over to follow him there. Was a little surprised though because he’s got over 100k subscribers only YT but only 35 followers on Spotify and two playlists. Was intrigued that I was part of such a small percentage of his fanbase that had gotten here, and decided to check out what kind of people our small little group consists of. One account instantly stood out from the rest because it was someone’s facebook linked account thus real name and photo and she looked like a young arts school/nerdy type (I don’t mean as an insult) which didn’t seem at all like the type of person I’d imagine watches his content. There was nothing that stood out about the rest of the accounts at all, except this one was some old bloke who’s probably in retirement lol. They were what I’d expect the audience of an obscure Asian youtuber who plays retro strategy games to be.. men of my generation and above. A woman who could be young enough to have not been alive when the twin towers came down really just stood out. Curiosity made me dive down the rabbit hole and click her profile.

I’m going to have to digress for a moment and explain what I mean by that rabbit hole. I’ve found that – in the online world at least - 6 degrees of separation is very much real. Whenever I bother to read facebook comments on news articles or memes I often will click on someone who stands out for whatever reason and find someone they’re interacting with on their profile then click on them – repeat the process and you quickly find someone who has a mutual friend of you. Or, when I’m reading YouTube comments I often do the same thing but in search of truly obscure content – like channels with videos not exceeding 150 views. You find these strange communities consisting of like half a dozen people but eventually you find someone you have something in common with. It’s kinda like how you can go on Wikipedia, click random article, and from there you can click any random link on the page and continue that process until you can get to the page of Adolf Hitler. You can do it within 6 clicks. I’ve literally never lost it. Go try it, it’s fascinating. Because that means every single wikipedia article is only seperated by 6 degrees from Hitler.

Anyway, so yeah, was curious about this person who stood out from the rest and wondered what I could find down that rabbit hole. This persons not got many followers, but one rather unique username stands out instantly.

I’ve seen that name before. Where have I seen that name before?

Someone I know must be following this person or something, I know I’ve seen this account name before on here.

Hmm, small world.

So I click on it. They’ve got two followers. Click. On follower is this person where this rabbit hole began. But the other follower is her.

Oh shit.

I think I know who this is, it must be him. Fuck.

Small world indeed.

I anticipated feeling this sort of way if I ever accidently bumped into her somewhere, sometime. But I wasn’t expecting this. What are the fucking odds of that happening.. at all, let alone within an hour of me writing what I wrote this morning. What the fuck.

#journal #diary #blog

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painterlegendx · 5 years

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What Will Girl Painting Nails Gif Be Like In The Next 6 Years? - Girl Painting Nails Gif

There's a antic active about about amusing media: Facebook is how you appetite bodies to see you, Twitter is how you see yourself; Tumblr is - "Hey look! Funny cat annual meme!"

I Found A Nail Polish That Doesn't Chip And I'm Obsessed With It - girl painting nails gif | girl painting nails gif If so David Karp has aloft a heck of a lot of money on the aback of funny cat pictures. The 26-year-old who invented Tumblr is currently afire through $125m of adventure basal in his adventure to accomplish Tumblr, at some point, accomplish money."It started appealing modestly," he says, "I had approved to set up blogs, I approved to tweet, acclimated Flickr and Delicious, I capital article that accustomed me to be added expressive, to present myself in a way I was appreciative of."So Karp, who had abandoned out of aerial academy and went beeline into the agenda media business in his teens, congenital Tumblr.If you are apprehensive what Tumblr is you are apparently a) over 24 b) not complex with Occupy Bank Street c) not a affiliate of the teenage-girl-nail-art subculture. And you acquire no abstraction what amusing curating is.Curating is the new boiler in the media: it akin formed its way into the contempo mission annual of BBC bang-up George Entwistle. So… curating is about amid creating and consuming: you cull calm being you like, photos, activated GIFs, YouTube videos, quotes. Much as avant-garde ball music is fabricated up of samples, and postmodern art fabricated up of "found" objects, re-assembled by the artist, Tumblr is about application the begin to say article different."Even if you're not the guy who gets in advanced of the camera and plays guitar," says Karp, "you can still accurate a point of view, be creative, through the being that you select.""At the bulk we acquire this association of millions of creators who accomplish the being - and about them this big web of tens of millions of curators, bodies who are slicing and dicing it into little channels, blogs abounding of the being they affliction acutely about. And they acquire this big admirers of 150 actor bodies who appearance up every ages who can acquisition the agreeable organised into channels that can be so nuanced, anxious and specific."

blackgificence filing nails gif | WiffleGif - girl painting nails gif | girl painting nails gif As millions of bodies allotment agnate content, what agenda theorists alarm "memes" are created. Common themes, images, sayings etc that ascertain the zeitgeist and proliferate, morph etc. Tumblr is an amazing able amplifier of memes: instead of posting, say, a funny cat annual to Facebook, I will reblog it from somebody abroad - accepting on the bandwagon, so to speak. But again my folio may accommodate two or three absolutely abstracted bandwagons. Apparently the best accepted meme basal on Tumblr in the accomplished year was the "We are the 99%" belief from Occupy Bank Street. If I attending at my own Tumblr annual - I've had one back an art activist alleged @spitzenprodukte told me doomily "Facebook is over" - it does not absolutely accommodate to the anti-narcissist antic I began with.So my meme conception tends to involve: Liza Minnelli (I know), ball numbers featuring Rita Hayworth (I said I know!). That's alongside Gettysburg the cine and abundant Northern Soul tracks, photos of Frida Kahlo, Manhattan in the 1950s and - big absurdity this - a GPOY.GPOY stands for "gratuitous photos of yourself" and is added or beneath binding on Facebook but acutely abhorrent on Tumblr. Other being I've acquaint includes graphs of Spanish debt; blogs the BBC arrangement was too, er, alternation to acquire on a Sunday morning.What has acquired Tumblr to booty off is the about adversity of accomplishing this akin of narcissism (or self-expression) akin on the uber-platform Facebook.Says Karp: "We're giving them accoutrement to accomplish actualize an character they can be absolutely appreciative of; you do it on a folio you can ascendancy completely. No two Tumblr blogs attending alike."

Nail polish GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY - girl painting nails gif | girl painting nails gif And the Tumblr demographic is apparent as politically significant. Admitting it has abandoned 150 actor users - compared with Facebook's one billion - there is a altered affecting intensity, and a cliquishness: actual few bodies acquisition their grannies and aunties, or old academy accompany in their Tumblr amusing network. It's added acceptable to be bodies who allotment the aforementioned obsessions.Tumblr, anecdotally, is in America at atomic not aloof absolutely adolescent but absolutely alive class: there's a lot of tattoos, piercings, bivouac lifestyles. There is a adverse bulk of self-disdain: it's attainable to arouse up a awning abounding of anorexic adolescent women, bodies adversity depression, clear images about boyish self-harm. And of advance pornography.But admitting the base - or is it aloof atrociously honest - ancillary of Tumblr, this analytical demographic ability has brought attack managers from both abandon of the US presidential chase assimilate the platform.I ask Karp what the agreeable acquaint on Tumblr is cogent us about the world:"Ten years ago there were maybe hundreds of bodies creating agenda content; I capital to be one of those abounding people, with an character and a presence. Today there are millions of bodies authoritative being and putting it into the world: that's become allotment of our character and it shouldn't be bound to bodies who adorned themselves writers, or who are decidedly amusing or talented: curation is a new, added attainable way to accurate yourself.""We acclimated to acquire a argument blurb on our networks, the Geocities - a bare slate you afraid together; again MySpace area you had added anatomy but you could still drudge it to pieces: it was ugly, but it was still actual personal, if a little janky looking. Again we got Facebook and we larboard all that behind, everybody had the aforementioned boilerplate page, in a big agenda of added people."Ultimately for Karp the claiming is to accomplish money. There are letters that investors are accepting afraid about the abridgement of a articular business model. He tells me his aboriginal aim is to accumulate the artefact simple: to acquiesce the amplitude itself to be a basal belvedere with third affair developers (my own Tumblr blog advanced end bulk me about £10 from a specialist designer, admitting best bodies opt for the chargeless customised version).

Painting nails GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY - girl painting nails gif | girl painting nails gif "Our archetypal is appealing simple: we acquire the absorption of an admirers of 150 actor bodies - we're affairs a little sliver of that absorption to marketers. How you do this in a zen-like interface, it requires an astronomic bulk of care. You don't appetite to bolt on a button to your Kindle to accomplish ads go abroad - so we acquire congenital announcement into the ancient features," Karp says.But he believes the drive is with the agreeable creators. The acute buzz is axis added of us into creators, akin if - as we array about the aforementioned accumulation contest application the best photo furnishings - a lot of our "creations" attending absolutely the same:"All of this being is gated on the hardware: Apple and Google are blame the accouterments so far, so quickly... and as the artistic application moves faster and faster the software is activity to explode: there is a accomplished ecosystem of artistic apps. So what I am best aflame about is what bodies are making."Tumblr is activity to face challenges over the use of added people's content, let abandoned censorship issues over the bulk of porn, self-harm etc that presents itself on the simplest of searches.But whatever happens commercially, Tumblr is yet addition harbinger in the wind of the amusing media revolution. MySpace went big, was bought by Rupert Murdoch and again declined. Facebook dead MySpace, went accessible at what looks like a massively over-valued price, and now faces big questions about how it will accomplish money activity forward. Tumblr - and its battling "curating" platforms - are one clue as to what might, one day, if this is akin thinkable, annihilate Facebook. Facebook, to me, is more like a ancestors active allowance at Christmas in the 1970s, with a lot of bodies I am declared to be affable and affable to.Ultimately we are all, inside, still teenagers in our bedrooms, and Tumblr is like a bedchamber bank area you can pin anything. And shut the aperture to accumulate your parents out.

Painting nails GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY - girl painting nails gif | girl painting nails gif Watch Paul Mason's abounding account with David Karp on Newsnight on Thursday 1 November 2012 at 10.30pm on BBC Two, again afterwards on the BBC iPlayer and Newsnight website. What Will Girl Painting Nails Gif Be Like In The Next 6 Years? - Girl Painting Nails Gif - girl painting nails gif | Pleasant for you to our weblog, within this time I am going to teach you regarding keyword. And from now on, this can be a first graphic:

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sanskritintheeveryday · 7 years

Photo

This is a what is known as a “dank meme,” images that are satirical of other social trends. I found this meme specifically on a Facebook page dedicated to philosophical existentialist memes, and they actually have a fair bit of memes related to Indian/Sanskrit culture. This picture specifically is a satire of the “you versus the other girl he told you not to worry about” meme, juxtaposing Lindsay Lohan against the goddess Laxmi ( लक्ष्मी ).

Dank memes typically have a reputation of humorously degrading the content which they depict. Yet here, Laxmi is used in a funky sort of way to emphasize the human condition. This isn’t the only meme from that page related to Indian/Sanskrit culture. Here’s a few others: first, second. All the Sanskrit-related memes over time, in my eyes, have been positive. Especially considering that philosophy even here at UT is usually only studied in the Western context, most people will never gain exposure to fundamentals of ancient Indian culture. These memes not only help facilitate that exposure in a fun, “hip” way that’s easily absorbed by a large percentage of heavy-Internet users, they depict the culture in a way that’s ultimately productive to learning. I hope as these continue to be made, they’re made by someone who at least has a strong working knowledge of the material they’re working with.

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doisneau · 7 years

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i sometimes talk about my teachers

but you should know that they all are REALLY crazy, so here is some stuff about them: - my physics teacher: owns a kung-fu academy and always wears a sweater with their motto: “fight your fight, improve yourself”. he also likes lecturing us on eating healthy before tests. - my freshman year art history teacher: once gave a meditation class but then admitted that he is not as good as the physics teacher in meditating. he’s really extra, like always jumping around and shouting and doing cartwheels to get our attention. it works. AND he dates the philosophy teacher, making them the power couple. - this philosophy teacher: is the coolest and most amazing woman at our school. (almost) everyone loves and wants to be her. she’s just so awesome, I don’t even know how to explain why, but trust me. - my literature teacher: super poetic (usually too much but I still love every single thing he says). sometimes he says weird stuff about relationships (like describes them in weird ways I don’t want to repeat) and makes everyone feel uncomfortable. once threw an ‘adventurer’ themed party to his baby. is the reason my friend calls me smelly mushroom. is part of “i have a lot of degrees” club - my biology teacher: loves running and loves going to the beach. all of his presentation’s photos are from beach runs. once broke up with a girlfriend because she hated when he stopped and pointed out plant and animal species, which he does AL THE TIME. “if only i had a leaf right now *opens backpack and takes out a huge leaf* well look at that, what a coincidence”. always talk abou his orchids. has a huge marine aquarium at his parents house because he lives in an apartment and the floor would break if he brought it there. huge - my history teacher: is like 12, he’s a child. has a really cute laugh?? it feels like he’s always giggling, again, like a kid. is ashamed he watches game of thrones. is always talking shit about capitalism on his facebook page. used to live with my freshman year geography teacher. - this geography teacher: is my cousin (long story and really distant cousin). he’s also 12. calls everyone “love”. used to rest his arm on my head all the time. quit school to work in another state but still hasn’t found a job at a school and is now a bartender. loves @stormdefender and i a lot and we miss him. - my current geography teacher is CRAZY. too. many. opened. tabs. once spent 40 bucks on chocolate in front of me and said “it’s for my chocolate collection, I’m a chocoholic”. loves talking about abya yala and points at its flags and squeals when she sees them. - my chemistry teacher: is also really crazy, but kinda creepy. rumor has it that he once locked students in a classroom and they had to jump out of the window (it’s not true but i love that someone actually invented this). once brought speakers so he could dance with other teachers at teacher’s lounge. talks too much about his personal life. knows so many languages. teaches us greek swear words. loves that my name is greek and ALWAYS tries to pronounce it in ancient greek. also part of the “i have a lot of degrees” club. - my junior year history teacher: pretended he hated everyone, but actually didn’t. soft but pretends to be super mean. loves communism. owns an instagram account just with selfies and sarcastic anti-capitalist hashtags. loves argentina. once danced with me in the eighth grade but probably pretends he doesn’t remember. - my junior year biology teacher: loves phone video games. spent too much time catching pokemons on our field trip. is part of my clan on clash royale. is also a child. - my english teacher: for starters she’s the best. sometimes sings when someone says something that reminds her of a song. “spoilers doesn’t exist in cinema”. likes watching students debating. also a member of “i have a lot degrees” club. i once met her at the mall and she had a lot of beers in one hand and just said “don’t you fucking dare take a photo, btw do you know anything about pokemon?” - my junior year chemistry teacher: only used comic sans. cheeky power point transitions and colorful slides. uses memes in a very very wrong way. - my maths teacher: loves mixing portuguese with languages like english and spanish even though he doesn’t speak any of them properly. “this is easier than pushing drunk people in a slope”. if you ask him so solve an exercise chances are that he’ll say “i don’t know how to do that one”. and whenever he makes a mistake he says “oops, it’s the alcohol” - my freshman year chemistry teacher: is the youngest of all teachers (at least was until the new hot freman year literature teacher was hired). is like 6 years older than me wtf. mine was his first ever class. ever. he was so scared and didn’t know what to do. loves teaching the history of chemistry. gets really happy when students like his classes obsessed with marie curie. has a dog named marie curie and talks about her on facebook. kinda looks like miles teller, but also kinda looks like a thumb. gets excited explaining his name (it’s french). was friends with a former art history teacher and it was so radom no one believed it. - my physical education teacher: has so many catch phrases. “do it brutally”. “no pretending”. vlogs on his instagram account. makes videos of him cycling at 8am on a sunday. “what are YOU doing this morning”. everyone feels bad watching these. is a huge meme and knows it.

#mine #it's late and i'm not tired #sorry for this

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shirlleycoyle · 5 years

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The ‘Storm Area 51’ Event Has Turned Into a Marketing Stunt

MJ Banias is the author of The UFO People: A Curious Culture. He tweets @mjbanias.

With 1.5 million people RSVPed to the Facebook event “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us,” the idea of going to meet some aliens has become a quick internet sensation. While the idea to rush a guarded military base in the Nevada desert is clearly stupid, the creators of the meme event have managed to capitalize and commercialize people’s beliefs in UFOs, aliens, and government cover-ups.

Roughly 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Area 51, officially known as the Nevada Test and Training Range, is part of Edwards Air Force Base. Area 51 has been a household name since KLAS-TV reporter George Knapp interviewed alleged MIT physicist and Area 51 employee Bob Lazar, who said he worked to reverse-engineer flying saucers at the site. The base has since maintained the legend of being a warehouse for crashed flying saucers, reverse engineered alien spacecraft, and even housing dead and living extraterrestrials.

While more a million and a half people have clicked that they will be attending this event to “see them aliens,” on September 20th, the US Air Force has already warned people to stay away.

The UFO community has mainly found this internet meme to be nothing more than a joke and a waste of time. However, some overzealous believers have booked their hotel rooms and begun packing their gear for this raid party. Even Lazar himself has commented on it by telling his followers to remain at home as the idea is “misguided.” He even warned that the last person to try to access Area 51 illegally “was shot” and that there are better ways to go about getting information regarding the goings on there.

Embedded in the foolishness of this Facebook event lies the unfortunate reality that people are capitalizing on people’s desire to believe. The event page links to the “Official Storm Area 51” website, which not only sports the #StormArea51 hashtag, but also social media links to the creators of the event. With a promise that “Something Big Is Coming,” the popularity of the event has spawned its own line of merchandise. T-shirts bearing the large eyed alien grey and slogans such as “I Survived Area 51” and “I Saw Them Aliens” can be purchased for $20. There is little doubt that more tchotchkes will soon appear.

Ufological discourse has always been haunted by the specter of consumerism. The town of Roswell, the location of an alleged flying saucer crash in 1947, holds a yearly festival to hallmark the event where the town enjoys a population boom of roughly 20,000 people over a summer weekend. That equates to the sale of a lot of floating UFO lamps, neon alien socks, and green slime slush drinks. AlienCon, the massive and well-attended comic-con style conference, cashes in on alien-themed TV content, such as Ancient Aliens, Project Blue Book, and the soon to be released Secrets of Skinwalker Ranch.

While the UFO community is usually engaged in dissention and a paradigm of counter-culture, it cannot escape the need to ‘buy’ and ‘own’ the UFO and the alien. Anthropologist Debbora Battaglia, in her book E.T. Culture: Anthropology in Outerspaces , explains that the desire to master the other is an integral part of the cultural and social UFO movement. In my book, The UFO People: A Curious Culture, I argue that people who engage in the UFO experience, be it through alleged contact, investigation or study, find a sort of comfort in the Ufological cottage industry. UFO discourse is a fundamental challenge to the nature of mainstream reality: Having something to hold on to, like a Storm Area 51 T-shirt or an alien smartphone case, although misguided, provides a sense of stability. If I can buy it, I can control it.

Brush aside the goofy internet memes and silly video game antics, the Storm Area 51 gimmick is pretty clever marketing. It’s enjoyed an entire news cycle worth of press from mainstream news sources, spawned a popular Twitter hashtag and a collection of merchandise. UFOs have entered into a cultural renaissance as of late, and anyone with a pulse may just be able to capitalize on it. While Lazar and the UFO community may think this is misguided, the people behind this little phenomenon are either brilliant, lucky or a little bit of both. Regardless, the UFO people have seen this before and they will definitely see it again, and if anyone actually tries to storm Area 51, they won’t see them aliens.

The ‘Storm Area 51’ Event Has Turned Into a Marketing Stunt syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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surly01 · 5 years

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A Bloody Week In Doom March 17, 2019

Prayers for the victims in Christchurch attacks.

“The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters.”

― Antonio Gramsci

The latest monster came to call in Christchurch, New Zealand in a story that dwarfed all others this week. I had some other ideas for what might fill this space this week, then the news from Christchurch, New Zealand, followed by the one-two punch of a Twitler emission rendered all moot. Brenton Tarrant strapped on a helmet camera, loaded a car with weapons, drove to a mosque in Christchurch and began shooting at anyone who came across his line of vision. His helmet-cam helped broadcast the act of mass terror live for the world to watch on social media. As of Sunday, the death toll had reached 50.

Tarrant thus joined the roll call of monsters alongside Stephen Paddock (Las Vegas), Anders Breivik (Norway), Robert Gregory Bowers (Tree of Life Synagogue, Pittsburgh), Omar Mateen (Pulse, Orlando), Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook), Nikolas Cruz (Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school), Devin Patrick Kelley (Sutherland Springs church in Texas), James Holmes (Aurora), Dylann Roof (Charleston, SC), and, of course, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who kicked off the 21st century with the Columbine massacre.

In ancient Rome, an interregnum was a period between stable governments when anything might happen, and the "the blood-dimmed tide" might be loosed: civil unrest, competition between warlords, power vacuums, wars of succession. In 1929, in such an interregnum found Italian Marxist philosopher and politician Antonio Gramsci languishing in a fascist prison, writing about the forces tearing Europe apart. He anticipated civil unrest, war between nations and changing political fault lines.

Interestingly, it was Gramsci who gave us the term "hegemony" now in use. Hegemony is a three dollar word representing a simple idea: the coercion of smaller fish by bigger fish. When the powerful use their influence to convince the less powerful their best interest lies in doing what is actually in the best interest of the powerful, that's hegemony. When we consider the above list of overwhelmingly white terrorists with a nationalist/supremacist bent, we can see terror is one way the powerful preserve their hegemony when they feel their power begin to wane when frightened by demographic changes posed by immigration.

Trump has the sensibility of a spoiled child tearing the wings off of flies. When asked whether white nationalism has anything to do with the tragedy in Christchurch, he replied in the negative. Echoes of “good people on both sides,” a la Charlottesville. The prime minister of New Zealand indicated late Friday coming changes to New Zealand's gun laws. A striking contrast that makes one wonder how many will have to die, again and again and again, until our own politicians, beholden to the NRA and their sea of laundered rubles, are moved to similarly act.

You'll recall that when it was his time to serve in Vietnam, the self proclaimed White House tough guy came up missing like Dick Cheney and his five deferments. Chickenhawks like Cheney always find "other priorities" to service, but are eager to send the disposable sons and daughters of the poor into harm's way, because what else are they for but cannon-fodder? Real military men who have seen battle are loath to commit their fellow citizens to needless battle; but chickenhawks, untroubled by loss or nightmares, send their non-relatives readily into the Valley of Death.

The mob-boss stylings of Citrus Caligula make a tough sound, especially when talking to the far right media like Breitbart.

Trump said: "I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad. But the left plays it cuter and tougher. Like with all the nonsense that they do in Congress … with all this investigations]—that’s all they want to do is –you know, they do things that are nasty. Republicans never played this.”

When you can't bully a majority of the people and the House of Representatives into accepting your will as fiat, that is apparently vicious tactics. Especially on the part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who Trump refers to as "Nancy."

"So here’s the thing—it’s so terrible what’s happening,” Trump said before discussing his supporters. “You know, the left plays a tougher game, it’s very funny. I actually think that the people on the right are tougher, but they don’t play it tougher. Okay?"

Uh, not OK. This is Trump engaging in stochastic terrorism, or

the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted.

Trump is actively encouraging people taking the law into their own hands, in the same way Putin has his Night Riders (see below), as Mussolini had his black shirts, and Hitler his brown shirts. The purpose is unmistakable: to be bullyboys who operate outside of the law and through violent intimidation. For the last two years we've had a president who fundamentally does not believe in democracy, and whose recent utterances show no loyalty to either the Constitution or the traditions of American governance. This IS a time of monsters. And now this:

Trump’s Breitbart Biker Threat Came From the Putin Playbook—Then Tweet Deleted After Mosque Massacre

Trump told Breitbart there could be biker violence against leftists. It sounded even worse after Brenton Tarrant's mosque massacre manifesto called Trump "a symbol of renewed white identity." It does not get much clearer than that.

The Daily Beast Explains the Putinesque origins of Twitler's latest veiled threat:

"They call themselves The Night Wolves, “a new kind of motorcycle club,” or, sometimes, “Putin’s Angels.” And just as much as the Orthodox Church or the military, the Wolves have become a symbol of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. But the idea that they might be used as his extra-legal enforcers in times of trouble is usually implicit—embedded in their flag-waving Putinized patriotism—never really spelled out....Trump is not so subtle, however, especially when he takes his cues from the Kremlin. Leave it to him to put the potential for violent defense of his interests by a motorcycle gang front and center in the public view."

On Friday morning, as news broke of the massacre, the murderer's manifesto called Trump “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose,” the Breitbart tough-guy tweet came down. Note a wider pattern of American racists and white supremacists looking to Russia for both moral and tactical support.

The New Zealand Massacre Was Made to Go Viral

Outside a mosque in Christchurch on Friday. Mark Baker/Associated Press

Charlie Warzel noted that the attack marks a grim new age of social media-fueled terrorism.

A 17-minute video of a portion of the attack, which leapt across the internet faster than social media censors could remove it, is one of the most disturbing, high-definition records of a mass casualty attack of the digital age — a grotesque first-person-shooter-like documentation of man’s capacity for inhumanity.

Videos of attacks are designed to amplify the terror, of course. But what makes this atrocity “an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence,” as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described it, is both the methodical nature in which the massacre was conducted and how it was apparently engineered for maximum virality.

Even though Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube scrambled to take down the recording, they were no match for the speed of their users or for their algorithms which make connections for people consuming such content. In minutes, the video was downloaded and mirrored onto additional platforms, and ricocheted around the globe.

Warzel notes,

Internet users dredged up the alleged shooter’s digital history, preserving and sharing images of weapons and body armor. The gunman’s apparent digital footprint — from the rantings of a White Nationalist manifesto to his 8chan message board postings before the murders — was unearthed and, for a time, distributed into far-flung corners of the web.

The killer wanted the world’s attention, and by committing an act of mass terror, he was able to get it.

It was not the first act of violence to be broadcast in real-time. Yet this one was different because ofd the perpetrator's apparent familiarity with the darkest corners of the internet. The recording contains numerous references to online and meme culture, including name-checking a prominent YouTube personality. Tarrant knew his audience.

Tarrent's digital trail depicts a white supremacist motivation for the attack. His 87-page manifesto, for instance, is filled with layers of commentary apparently written to specifically enrage the communities that appear to have helped radicalize the gunman in the first place. It seems he understands both the platform dynamics that allow misinformation and divisive content to spread but also the way to sow discord.

I recently came across an article by Ezra Klein who identifies an ecosphere of YouTube prophets and avatars who populate the "intellectual dark web:" The rise of YouTube’s reactionary right: How demographic change and YouTube’s algorithms are building a new right. Many right wing publishers benefit from YouTube’s algorithms to build the new right.

YouTube’s recommendation engine follows the digital footsteps we all make. And it sees connections, not context. It knows when audiences repeatedly come together, but does not grasp why. And it predicts what they’re likely to view next. Thus are the "mainstreams" of conservative thought brought into proximity to the far right fringe.

As Klein has it,

"Many of these YouTubers are less defined by any single ideology than they are by a “reactionary” position: a general opposition to feminism, social justice, or left-wing politics."

On YouTube, tomorrow’s politics are emerging today. Tarrant noted this and made the online community work in the gunman’s favor. Our brown shirts are now digital: not only has their conspiratorial hate spread from the internet to real life, it’s also weaponized to go viral.

Proof That White Supremacy Is an International Terrorist Threat

It stretches from Christchurch to Pittsburgh and extends out in every direction.

The always-dependable Charlie Pierce noted that Anders Breivik, the murderous white-supremacist who killed 72 people in Norway in 2011, has become one of the most significant figures in international terrorism by providing a template for the modern white-supremacist mass murderer.

From Ted Kaczynski, he borrowed the idea of publishing a manifesto. From the Columbine killers, he borrowed the idea of using both bombs and guns. And from the international white-supremacist networks, he borrowed the murderous rage and bloodthirsty rhetoric necessary to carry out acts of mass murder, and to justify his crimes through an elaborate bullshit ideological exoskeleton that he wore like body armor. He put all of this together and created the modern mode of mass political murder, one that was carried out again Thursday in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Pierce notes that Tarrant's latest manifesto

reads like a vicious form of grandiose trolling. But there seems to be little doubt that the crimes themselves speak loudly of the basic truth that this was a right-wing act of war against a target population. And, because of that, we should take the following passage very seriously. The alleged shooter called the President* of the United States "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose."

When asked if the rise of white natonalism or white supremacy posed a rising threat around the world, Trump replied,

“I don’t, really. I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems, I guess. If you look at what happened in New Zealand, perhaps that’s the case. I don’t know enough about it yet. But it’s certainly a terrible thing.”

On Sunday, Mick Mulvaney and other staffers made the rounds and insisted that Trump was "Not a White Supremacist." Which speaks volumes.

White supremacy now poses an international terrorist threat stretching from Norway to Pittsburgh, from Christchurch to Las Vegas, sharing objectives with the Night Riders or the Bikers for Trump, but better armed and more purposeful. Brownshirts used to intimidate; the new generation attacks to sow terror in targeted groups. This poses an existential threat to the very notion of liberal democracy. Today the target is Muslims; Tomorrow's target will be...?

For our purposes this week, Charlie Pierce gets the last word:

From [white supremacist terrorism] runs on a parallel track with the rise of a xenophobic rightwing nationalist politics that is conspicuously successful in a number of putatively democratic nations. Liberal democracy is under attack and, like any revolution, this one has both a respectable political front and a violent auxiliary that operates on its own imperatives. That one of those auxiliaries cites both a Norwegian mass murderer and the President* of the United States as inspiration for killing 49 people is not only evidence of the width of the threat, but also the depth of its commitment to the cause. This is the everyday al Qaeda of the angry white soul, and it's growing.

Now is the time of monsters.

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