#between teens on Twitter legitimately asking this question

[theliterarywolf]

"Lol, how did people even do essays and shit before ChatGPT?"

You used your brain, Sandra. I know in an age where everybody is addicted to 5-second instant-gratification, that notion is hard to believe but it is, in fact, what education is actually for:

Teaching people how to use their brains rather than what to parrot.

[onlydylanobrien]

Dylan O'Brien - NME Magazine Interview

Dylan O’Brien: “I was in this transitional phase – close to a quarter-life crisis”

From YA heartthrob to legitimate leading man – how the 'Maze Runner' star hit his stride after a whirlwind decade

Definitely!” hoots Dylan O’Brien when NME asks if he still has to audition. “I’m not Tom fucking Hanks, bro.” He’s clearly amused by our question, but forgive us for thinking the 29-year-old actor gets cast on reputation alone. A decade into his career, and he’s making an impressive transition from teen TV star and YA franchise hero to charismatic leading man.

New York-born O’Brien cut his teeth on MTV’s hit Teen Wolf series, before landing the lead in the Maze Runner film trilogy based on James Dashner’s hugely popular novels. Leading a band of bright young things that included ex-Skins tearaway Kaya Scodelario, Game Of Thrones’ Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Will Poulter, he honed his craft while racking up nearly a billion dollars at the box office. “My career is a constant acting class,” says O’Brien. “To be able to do the Maze Runner movies simultaneously with Teen Wolf was amazing in terms of getting in reps and working my [acting] muscle.”

Now for the sometimes tricky bit. Many actors struggle with the post-breakout period, but O’Brien is making it look easy so far. This year’s Netflix hit Love and Monsters proved he can carry an old-school family adventure, and new film Flashback (out next week) reveals an appetite for weirder, more cerebral work. He stars as Fred Fitzell, a young man reluctant to buckle down to life as a nine-to-fiver with a boring corporate job and a long-term girlfriend (Mindhunter‘s Hannah Gross). When he runs into a freaky-looking acquaintance from his teenage years, Fred becomes obsessed with finding an old high-school friend he used to drop a mind-bending experimental drug called Mercury with. It’s difficult to say any more without entering spoiler territory, but Flashback is a wild ride underpinned by the idea that we can exist in several realities at once. Even if you follow every plot twist, you might not fully understand the end. “Oh, it’s definitely a headfuck,” O’Brien agrees. “There’s not totally an answer to figure out. There’s a lot of different things that people can take from it.”

Speaking over Zoom from his LA home, O’Brien is bright, thoughtful and really good fun to talk to, especially when he relaxes into the interview, but he clearly knows where his line between public and private lies. When he first read the Flashback script, written by the film’s director Christopher MacBride, his “mind was blown” by just how much he related to Fred. “I felt like I was in this transitional phase of my life that was, you know, sort of close to a quarter-life crisis type thing,” he says. “For whatever reason, it was like me and this script were meant to be. I remember reading it and thinking: ‘I am this guy right now.'”

“There were a lot of things in my personal life that were neglected for a while”

When we ask why O’Brien felt as though he had reached a “transitional phase”, he gives an answer that’s vague but not exactly evasive. For understandable reasons, he doesn’t mention the incredibly traumatic motorcycle accident he sustained while shooting the final Maze Runner film in March 2016. O’Brien suffered severe trauma to the brain and said in 2017 that he underwent extensive facial reconstructive surgery after the accident “broke most of the right side of my face”. Tellingly, he’s never really revealed what happened on set or how it affected him.

Today, O’Brien dances around the details of the accident and other issues he was dealing with at the time, but doesn’t shy away from discussing his inner conflict. “You know, it was a lot of personal things combined with at-a-point-in-my-career things,” he says after a brief pause. He says he’d have been going through some of this stuff anyway, simply because of his age, but it sounds as though success intensified it all. “It was like this whole fucking storm of shit,” he continues. “I was simultaneously so fulfilled and happy about these, like, otherworldly and surreal things that I had experienced in terms of where my career had brought me. I had all this confidence and fulfilment and beautiful people [in my life] – such amazing things to experience at a young age. But at the same time, there were a lot of things in my personal life that were unchecked and sort of neglected for a while.”

O’Brien says that in time, he realised he had to “stop for a second” and “re-explore how I wanted my life to look going forward”. In fairness, you can see why he needed a breather: his career took off while he was still a teenager. After his family moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles County when he was 12, O’Brien contemplated a career as a sports broadcaster – his Twitter bio still bills him as a “no longer suffering Mets fan” – then began posting YouTube videos as moviekidd826. A funny, slickly edited skit titled ‘How to Prepare for the SAT in 45 seconds’, shared when he was just 17, shows he was a born performer and storyteller. YouTube success led to him getting a manager, but his breakthrough role in Teen Wolf still came out of the blue. At the time, he was treading water at a local community college and taking auditions on the side.

Still, he has since taken a rather fatalistic view of this career-making moment. “It’s totally weird because, when I think about it now, I don’t see how it could have happened any other way. I can’t picture myself doing anything else now,” he told Collider in 2011. “It was really sudden and a little random, and not provoked by anything. It was just out of nowhere. It wasn’t my intentional doing.” Today, O’Brien summarises his skyscraper career trajectory succinctly. “I guess I just graduated high school and started acting,” he says. “And then I felt like I was just flying by the seat of my pants and never got a chance to stop.” Thankfully, straight-out-the-blocks Hollywood success hasn’t taken away his sense of perspective. When I say how easy social media makes it to compare yourself unfavourably to others, O’Brien jumps in: “Yeah, that’s very true. I was watching the Billie Eilish doc the other day, and I was like, I’ve done nothing. I’m not an artist at all!”

“No one thought ‘Love and Monsters’ was going to be good!”

O’Brien is also self-deprecating when he talks about being cast in Flashback, suggesting it happened because he had such an intense connection with Fred. “I was honestly like, ‘Who is watching me right now?’ That is the best way I can describe how I was feeling when I came across this script,” he says. “Chris [MacBride, director] and I had this conversation that went so well in terms of [my] understanding this script that I think he’d sent around a lot and [that] very commonly wasn’t understood. I think Chris has even said that the night before shooting, he suddenly had this thought, like, ‘Wait, do I even think he’s a good actor?'”

Though O’Brien has firmly ring-fenced elements of his private life, he’s actually pretty frank about his acting vehicles. He readily admits he was expecting a snobbish response to Love and Monsters, a CGI-heavy hybrid of post-apocalyptic action and romcom that dropped on Netflix in April and topped the streamer’s daily most-watched list. “It means so much that Love and Monsters has gotten the response that it’s gotten,” O’Brien says. “No one thought this movie was going to be good.” His blunt honesty makes me laugh out loud. “No one did though!” he says in response. “And so, fuck that. You know, most of the people who say something to me about the movie, they’re like: ‘I watched Love and Monsters, and it was… good?’ And honestly, that just cracks me up.” For obvious reasons, we hastily decide not to share our response to the film – namely, that it was a whole lot better than expected.

In Love and Monsters, O’Brien plays Joel, a survivor of a so-called “monsterpocalypse” that has bumped humans to the bottom of the food chain. Though he’s known in his colony as a bit of a coward, Joel sets off on a treacherous 80-mile journey to find his high school sweetheart Aimee (Iron Fist‘s Jessica Henwick), which means evading the hungry clutches of various supersize grizzlies including a giant monster-frog hiding in a suburban pond. It’s a simple but pretty out-there premise that wouldn’t work if O’Brien’s performance was even slightly condescending. Instead, his unselfconscious sincerity really sells a film that has as much in common with the family-oriented Robin Williams movie Night at the Museum as darker fare like The Walking Dead.

His obvious affection for the project really comes across during our interview today. “When I read the script, I just thought it was so sweet and funny and smart and unique, but at the same time reminiscent of all these movies that don’t really get made any more,” he says. That’s a fair point: Love and Monsters is neither a fail-safe superhero movie nor a slice of classy Oscar bait. “And when they were talking about how to market this movie, it was so funny hearing all these conversations like, ‘How do we actually get people to watch it?'” he adds. “But that’s a big part of the reason I wanted to do this movie: because it felt like something I missed seeing.”

“I’m lucky to be surrounded by people who want to make something out of love”

So in a way, Love and Monsters was a risk for an actor seeking to establish himself outside of a bankable movie franchise and a hit TV show. O’Brien has only made four films since his final Maze Runner outing in 2018, and insists he hasn’t been tactical with his choices. “I don’t have anyone saying, ‘We need to get you in an Oscar vehicle’, or any of that kind of shit,” he says. “I’m really lucky to be surrounded by people who think like me: that you should do what you’re drawn to, and make something out of love.”

He’s recently finished shooting a mysterious crime thriller called The Outfit in London with Mark Rylance. Directed and co-written by Graham Moore, who won an Oscar for his screenplay to Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game, O’Brien calls it “quite possibly one of the most special pieces of writing I’ve ever experienced”. He first read the script on a plane and says he “actually stood up and clapped” when he got to the end. Considering O’Brien probably wasn’t flying Ryanair, this reaction presumably attracted a few baffled glances.

Anyway, it must be pretty intimidating walking onto set with Rylance, a multi-award-winning actor revered by his peers – Al Pacino once said he “speaks Shakespeare as if it was written for him the night before” – but it sounds as though O’Brien took it all in stride. He says he’s confident in his abilities, but admits to having a slight wobble whenever he begins a new project. “I’m always sort of re-questioning everything – like, ‘Can I even act?'” he says. “But I think there’s something very natural about that. I think even Rylance could relate to that feeling. Acting is like starting a new year at school every single time.”

At this point in his career, O’Brien has made peace with the fact that some people will have preconceptions about him based on what he’s known for: Maze Runner and Teen Wolf. “People will put you in a box no matter what,” he says. “There was definitely a time when that would get to me, especially when it felt like somebody had a perspective on me that in my soul, I just felt wasn’t accurate.” Still, there’s no doubt he wants to show us what’s really in his soul with more films like Flashback. “If anything,” he adds bullishly, “it just makes me think: ‘Right, I’m really gonna show them now’.”

‘Flashback’ is out on digital platforms from June 4

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

July 14, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

Yesterday, news broke that, under pressure from Republican leaders, Republican-dominated Tennessee will no longer conduct vaccine outreach for minors. Only 38% of people in Tennessee are vaccinated, and yet the state Department of Health will no longer reach out to urge minors to get vaccinated.

This change affects not only vaccines for the coronavirus, but also all other routine vaccines. On Monday, Tennessee’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tim Jones sent an email to staff saying there should be "no proactive outreach regarding routine vaccines" and "no outreach whatsoever regarding the HPV vaccine." The HPV vaccine protects against a common sexually transmitted infection that causes cervical cancer, among other cancers.

Staff were also told not to do any "pre-planning" for flu shots events at schools. Any information released about back-to-school vaccinations should come from the Tennessee Department of Education, not the Tennessee Department of Health, Jones wrote.

On Monday, Dr. Michelle Fiscus, Tennessee's former top vaccine official, was fired without explanation, and Republicans have talked about getting rid of the Department of Health altogether, saying it has been undermining parents by going around them and straight to teens to promote vaccines.

Video editor J.M. Rieger of the Washington Post put together a series of videos of Republicans boosting the vaccine and thanking former president Donald Trump for it only to show the same people now spreading disinformation, calling vaccines one of the greatest scandals in our history, and even comparing vaccines to the horrors of the Nazis.

This begs the question: Why?

Former FBI special agent, lawyer, and professor Asha Rangappa put this question to Twitter. “Seriously: What is the [Republicans’] endgame in trying to convince their own voters not to get the vaccine?” The most insightful answer, I thought, was that the Republican’s best hope for winning in 2022—aside from voter suppression—is to keep the culture wars hot, even if it means causing illness and death.

The Republican Party continues to move to the right. During his time in office, the former president put his supporters into office at the level of the state parties, a move that is paying off as they purge from their midst those unwilling to follow Trump. Today, in Michigan, the Republican Party chair who had criticized Trump, Jason Cabel Roe, resigned.

Candidates who have thrown their hat into the ring for the 2022 midterm elections are trying to get attention by being more and more extreme. They vow to take on the establishment, support Trump and God, and strike terror into the “Liberals” who are bringing socialism to America. Forty QAnon supporters are running for Congress, 38 as Republicans, 2 as Independents.

And yet, there are cracks in this Republican rush to Trumpism.

Yesterday, on the Fox News Channel, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) admitted that "Joe Biden is the president of the United States. He legitimately got elected." Trump supporters immediately attacked McCarthy, but the minority leader is only too aware that the House Select Committee on the Capitol Insurrection will start hearing witnesses on July 27, and the spotlight on that event is highly unlikely to make the former president—and possibly some of the Republican lawmakers—look good.

Already, the books coming out about the former administration have been scathing, but tonight news broke of new revelations in a forthcoming book by Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker. Leonnig and Rucker interviewed more than 140 members of the former administration and say that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark A. Milley was increasingly upset as he listened to Trump lie about having won the election, believing Trump was looking for an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act and call out the military.

Milley compared the former president’s language to that of Hitler and was so worried Trump was going to seize power that Milley began to strategize with other military leaders to keep him from using the military in illegal ways, especially after Trump put his allies at the head of the Pentagon. “They may try, but they’re not going to f---ing succeed,” he allegedly said.

In addition to damaging stories coming out about the former president, news broke yesterday that Fitch Ratings, a credit rating company, is considering downgrading the AAA rating of the United States government bonds. The problem is not the economy. In fact, the Fitch Ratings report praises the economy, saying it “has recovered much more rapidly than expected, helped by policy stimulus and the roll-out of the vaccination program, which has allowed economic reopening…. [T]he scale and speed of the policy response [is] a positive reflection on the macroeconomic policy framework. Real economic output has overtaken its pre-pandemic level and is on track to exceed pre-pandemic projections....”

Although the report worries about the growing debt, we also learned yesterday that the deficit for June dropped a whopping 80% from the deficit a year ago, as tax receipts recover along with the economy. Year-to-date, the annual deficit is down 18% from last year.

The problem, the report says, is politics. And it is specific. “The failure of the former president to concede the election and the events surrounding the certification of the results of the presidential election in Congress in January, have no recent parallels in other very highly rated sovereigns. The redrafting of election laws in some states could weaken the political system, increasing divergence between votes cast and party representation. These developments underline an ongoing risk of lack of bipartisanship and difficulty in formulating policy and passing laws in Congress.”

—-

Notes:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/health/2021/07/13/tennessee-halts-all-vaccine-outreach-minors-not-just-covid-19/7928701002/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/09/gop-fox-news-rush-turn-vaccine-door-knockers-into-terrifying-straw-men/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/14/under-trump-republicans-touted-coronavirus-vaccines-now-under-biden-theyre-questioning-them/

Tim Hanrahan @TimJHanrahanKevin McCarthy on Fox News, when asked about Trump's continued election claims: "Joe Biden is the president of the United States. He legitimately got elected. " On if Trump should run again: "Donald Trump has to make that decision whether he wants to run for president or not."408 Retweets1,373 Likes

July 13th 2021

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/13/party-extremists-gop-primary-contenders-struggle-break-out/

https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/here-are-qanon-supporters-running-congress-2022

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/michigan-gop-director-who-said-trump-blew-it-in-2020-resigns/ar-AAMa7oM

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/14/politics/house-select-committee-first-hearing-democrats-capitol-police/index.html

https://www.fitchratings.com/research/sovereigns/fitch-affirms-united-states-at-aaa-outlook-negative-13-07-2021

CNBC @CNBCJUST IN: The U.S. budget deficit for June plunged to $174 billion. @ylanmui has the numbers. 309 Retweets669 Likes

July 13th 2021

Asha Rangappa @AshaRangappa_Seriously: What is the GOP’s endgame in trying to convince their own voters not to get the vaccine?5,083 Retweets45,461 Likes

July 13th 2021

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/joint-chiefs-chairman-feared-potential-reichstag-moment-aimed-at-keeping-trump-in-power/2021/07/14/a326f5fe-e4ec-11eb-a41e-c8442c213fa8_story.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/14/politics/donald-trump-election-coup-new-book-excerpt/index.html

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[thatwasthenightthingschanged]

"In retrospect, you could say I was beginning to question things.

But then it was 2018, and a couple of things happened. First, Love, Simon came out in March, which was one of the most electrifying, unforgettable, truly extraordinary experiences of my life. But having your book adapted to a film brings a lot of notoriety and attention, especially online, and it’s not always the fun kind. Unsurprisingly, there was quite a bit of discourse about my identity — how could there not be? Love, Simon was the first gay teen rom com to be released widely by a major film studio, and it was based on a book written by an allocishet woman. Yes, the film’s director was openly gay. No, not everyone cared (frankly, a lot of people still don’t know Love, Simon was based on a book). But in many online spaces, my straightness was a springboard for some — legitimately important — conversations about representation, authenticity, and ownership of stories. And for some people, my straightness was enough to boycott the film entirely.

Then Leah on the Offbeat came out about a month later, and the discourse exploded all over again. There were thinkpieces based on the premise that I, a straight woman, clearly knew nothing about being a bi girl. There were tweets and threads and blog posts, and just about every single one I came across mentioned my straightness. And when Leah debuted on the NYT list, authors I admired and respected tweeted their disappointment that this “first” had been taken by a straight woman. Of course, Leah wasn’t the first f/f YA book to hit the New York Times list. And maybe people were wrong about the other stuff too. But the attention and scrutiny were so overwhelming, and it all hurt so badly, I slammed the lid down on that box and forgot I’d ever cracked it open.

At least I didn’t remember I remembered.

I deleted the sexuality labels from my website. I declined to answer certain questions in interviews. I’d get quietly, passionately indignant when people made assumptions about other authors’ gender identities and sexualities. And I’d feel uncomfortable, anxious, almost sick with nerves every time they discussed mine.

And holy shit, did people discuss. To me, it felt like there was never a break in the discourse, and it was often searingly personal. I was frequently mentioned by name, held up again and again as the quintessential example of allocishet inauthenticity. I was a straight woman writing shitty queer books for the straights, profiting off of communities I had no connection to.

Because the thing is, I called myself straight in a bunch of early interviews.

But labels change sometimes. That’s what everyone always says, right? It’s okay if you’re not out. It’s okay if you’re not ready. It’s okay if you don’t fully understand your identity yet. There’s no time limit, no age limit, no one right way to be queer.

And yet a whole lot of these very same people seemed to know with absolute certainty that I was allocishet. And the less certain I was, the more emphatically strangers felt the need to declare it. Apparently it was obvious from my writing. Simon’s fine, but it was clearly written by a het. You can just tell. Her books aren’t really for queer people.

You know what’s a mindfuck? Questioning your sexual identity in your thirties when every self-appointed literary expert on Twitter has to share their hot take on the matter. Imagine hundreds of people claiming to know every nuance of your sexuality just from reading your novels. Imagine trying to make space for your own uncertainty. Imagine if you had a Greek chorus of internet strangers propping up your imposter syndrome at every stage of the process.

The thing is, I really do believe in the value of critically discussing books, particularly when it comes to issues of representation. And I believe in the vital importance of Ownvoices stories. Most of the identities represented in my books are Ownvoices. But I don’t think we, as a community, have ever given these discussions the care and nuance they deserve.

Consider the origin of the Ownvoices hashtag. It was created in 2015 by author Corinne Duyvis, with the purpose of highlighting stories written by authors who share the same marginalized identities as their characters. But Corinne has always emphasized caution when it comes to using Ownvoices to determine which authors can tell which stories. And she’s been incredibly clear and emphatic about not weaponizing the term to pressure authors to disclose private aspects of their identities.

So why do we keep doing this? Why do we, again and again, cross the line between critiquing books and making assumptions about author identities? How are we so aware of invisible marginalization as a hypothetical concept, but so utterly incapable of making space for it in our community?

Let me be perfectly clear: this isn’t how I wanted to come out. This doesn’t feel good or empowering, or even particularly safe. Honestly, I’m doing this because I’ve been scrutinized, subtweeted, mocked, lectured, and invalidated just about every single day for years, and I’m exhausted. And if you think I’m the only closeted or semi-closeted queer author feeling this pressure, you haven’t been paying attention.

And I’m one of the lucky ones! I’m a financially independent adult. I can’t be disowned. I come from a liberal family, I have an enormous network of queer friends and acquaintances, and my livelihood isn’t even remotely at risk. I’m hugely privileged in more ways than I can count. And this was still brutally hard for me. I can’t even imagine what it’s like for other closeted writers, and how unwelcome they must feel in this community.

Even as I write this, I’m bracing for the inevitable discourse — I could draft the twitter threads myself if I wanted to. But I’d rather just make a few things really clear. First, this isn’t an attempt to neutralize criticism of my books, and you’re certainly entitled to any reactions you might have had to their content. Second, I’m not asking you to validate my decision to write Simon (or What If It’s Us, or mlm books in general).

But if I can ask for something, it’s this: will you sit for a minute with the discomfort of knowing you may have been wrong about me? And if your immediate impulse is to scrutinize my personal life, my marriage, or my romantic history, can you try to check yourself?

Or how about this: can we all be a bit more careful when we engage in queer Ownvoices discourse? Can we remember that our carelessness in these discussions has caused real harm? And that the people we’re hurting rarely have my degree of privilege or industry power? Can we make space for those of us who are still discovering ourselves? Can we be a little more compassionate? Can we make this a little less awful for the next person?

Can you tell I’m angry? Because I’m angry.

But I’m grateful, too, for those of you who understood the hidden (and not-so-hidden) threads of my books before I did. I’m grateful for the writer whose vulnerability made all of this finally click into place for me. And the ones who put their hearts on the line to hold space for people like me. And the ones who made me feel like I was allowed to care about this. And, of course, I’m grateful for the books. Some of you have no idea how much your words have helped me find mine.

Anyway, all of this is to say: I’m bi. Sorry it took me so long to get here. But then again, at least the little red coming out book I needed was already on my shelf (in about thirty different languages).

I think I finally know why I wrote it."

author Becky Albertalli ("Love, Simon", "Leah On The Offbeat") on her coming out process and the harsh criticism she had to face for he books (whole article here)

I think this perfectly illustrates why we, as a community, should stop assuming other people's identity

[the-headbop-wraith]

X

3 _ 39 The Land Time Forgot

  A rebounding thunder of cries tumbled across the vibrant blue sky, terror gushing forth, metal grinding and mashing and rattling. The clank and rasp howled forth, and then a yellow blur winked out as it hurtled through a subterranean burrow. Further wailing echoed within, until the terror-stricken voices extinguished, and silence curdled forth.

 “Oh my god, did you see that!” A blue blur dashed to the side of a rail and peered over into the hollowed pit, she leaned far over with her leg slung up high behind her. “That had to be sixty mph!” She’s joined at the shoulder by a snazzy dressed figure, his grin dazzling.

 “Vii, indoor voice. Save it for the rides, or you’ll go hoarse again.”

 She snickered. “Neigh!”

 Further from their station, another wail of cries exploded, hooting as a small train cart blazed across the tight woven and spiraling track. As far as the eye could see, the colorful flashes and whirls of other attractions, laughter and screaming – though a few of utter horror wound through the wild rush of adrenaline junkies. The theme park was a popular tourist destination, long established and flocked by trees and clean-cut brush winding among the many pathways dominating the sprawling acreage.

 It was slow season, a good time to take a vacation for young people who could nail down a select date that would allow minimal competition with typical season swarm. This was one of the rare occasions that the Mystery Skulls crew could set aside some time for a much needed vacation, in-between assignments and on the road. They totally did not travel a hundred miles out of the way for this.

 “Where d’we even start?” Vivi bounced at the rail. “Do we work our way up, or just hit up the biggest, scariest, heart attack?”

 Mystery borked. Maybe… work your way up. He gave his whole body a shake, his collar twittering with the vigorous motion.

 “C’mon guys” Arthur beseeched, hands in his pockets. “I think we’re gunna get evicted from the place before we even get through a line. This is not gonna work.”

 Vivi looked at him innocently. “What’s not going to work?”

 He pointed to the Mystery hound. “Stick a vest on Misty. It won’t work, they’ll figure it out. And he hates it.” On that note, Mystery gave himself another rigorous shake. “Knock that off, or they’ll catch on you’re not a real service dog.”

 Vivi went over to Mystery and wrapped her arms around his chest, lifting the hound by his front. “But we can’t exile our most devoted case worker.” She swayed Mystery. “This is as much our vacation, as it is his.”

 Mystery gave Arthur a snarky grin.

 “Lighten up, Art.” Lewis set his hands on his hips. “The park and staff don’t want to deal with regular puppers. Mystery’s better behaved than some teens.”

 Ruff!

 “It’s not an insult. Work with me.”

 Arthur groaned and ran his hands over his head, pushing his spikey hair back. “Mind you, if we get caught this’ll be the fifth theme park we’re blacklisted from!”

 Lewis winced. “The ghosts in the spook house were so lifelike!”

 Vivi defended with, “You can’t tell me that magician wasn’t actually turning his audience volunteers into rabid hyenas!”

 Mystery barked! That whole buffet was going to waste!

 “You guys are nuts!” Arthur slapped his arms over his face and groaned. “I give us a half hour. We’re gunna beat our best record.”

 Lewis threw an arm over Arthur’s shoulders. “You worry too much, Artie. Relax for once.” He swept his other arm out, across the expanse of the theme park set before them. The looping coasters, the spinning gyros, lush fields of trees for the aesthetic. “This is our day to scream, not because crazy freaks in masks are chasing us. But because we’re having fun. You remember fun, right?”

 Vivi plucked Mystery up in her arms. “And I read the rules and regulations in-depth. No one’s allowed to ask invasive questions about our lovable teammate. All we have to do, is remind them he’s very important.” She did pouty eyes. “You wouldn’t say no to this face.”

 Mystery did pouty puppy eyes and made his lip quiver.

 Rolling his eyes, Arthur checked Lewis – who did eyebrow waggles – then returned his eyes to Mystery, who leaned forward and gave his nose a lick. “I get ‘Told you so’ rights, and unlimited churros, IF we get caught.”

 Vivi laughed and let Mystery drop out of her arms. “In the meantime! There are rides to check out and an assortment of foods to sample.” She bolted off, chasing Mystery.

 Lewis gave chase. “Vii! Honey! Don’t eat before the really big rides!”

 Arthur was not far behind. “Guys! Wait. Mystery! You can’t run, they’ll get wise to our illegal activities!”

 For the benefit of Arthur, the gang started off on some of the less thrilling rides. They tried the high-speed coasters, with tight turns and mild dips. In between the crazy coasters, they tried the wicked spinners or the high-flying swings that soared above the parks landscape. Most of the ride selection was based on Vivi spying the next tallest spire, and the group navigating towards that through the winding paths, and then getting distracted by rides or shows along the way.

 Though Mystery couldn’t go on some of the rides, there were a few picked out specifically by the group that he could participate on. Those being low speed with minimum restraints, the bumper cars – which he enjoyed excessively. There was a log ride, that allowed him to sit aboard and ride alongside Arthur. Or the leisure car ride, where Vivi let him drive his car; due to the karts being on magnet tracks, and not a lot he could sabotage.

 None of the ride attendants questioned the dog presence. The most they got was a ‘well, he seems large enough for this ride’. He was so well behaved, but it helped that the park was having a relatively quiet day. The lines for some of the main attractions were nonexistent, and even in the mellow themed districts of the park, there were not a lot of kids.

 At around eleven, the crew stopped in one of the Ages Gone district for some eats. The aroma of sauces and simmer meats enticed Mystery, and when it came to food Vivi tended to trust the canine. Each member of the Mystery Skulls elected a preferred food item from the one stop cafeteria they were drawn too, and then took trays off for a secluded space under a tree. It put them on the edge of a cool plot of land, which divided their location from a nearby coaster track Vivi was adamant about riding right after.

 “We’re not doing that,” Lewis denied. “We’re going on the low-key rides, have a little down time.”

 “Aye-aye,” Arthur chimed. He dug into his ultra-saucy, meat burrito, getting sauce all over his hands. “No rush anyway. I can’t believe how much free time we got, without every other family not coddling Mystery boy here.”

 Woof. Mystery dipped his nose into the Styrofoam box, nosing at some toasted apples.

 The group finished their meal, Vivi somewhat in thought and a little quiet. Lewis gathered up the trash and dumped it in one of the trash reciprocals. Then, they went on their way scoping out the rides on this side of the park. They strolled on one of the paths near the river rapids, where a circular boat transported riders across frothing waters and through tunnels with theme appropriate critters.

 “I know this is off season,” Vivi mentioned, while watching an empty boat sweep through, “but I’ve seen more people in line at the dentist for root canal specials.”

 Woof. Mystery gave a large yawn. He wasn’t fond of big, congested crowds bumping and brushing against his doggy shoulders. All that static was a nightmare.

 “Maybe that’s the latest attraction,” Arthur muttered. He was still sipping the liquified ice of his beverage from lunch. “Scariest attraction yet! The dental experience! Check it out, people are already fleeing in terror.”

 The group stalled, Arthur choked on his flat seltzer coffee. “Wait—”

 On the other side of a high fence, a roller coaster train thundered by, momentarily drowning out the factual and alarmed shrill of park goers vaulting through a small garden plot. People launched over fences, darting across pathways, someone landed in a small decorative pool but kept going, drenched.

 Lewis sided up by Arthur, pointing. “Um, is that supposed to be happening?” Upon a better examination of the action, the initiator of the stampede became apparent.

 A dinosaur! A legitimate dinosaur was rampaging across one of the attraction landscapes; one decorated with lush plants and tall fronds, elephant ears, and palms. Ride goers burst through the greenery, as the feathered and toothed monster lunged or ducked through the flora. The species of prehistoric nuisance was game for debate, but one factor was certain – it was a biped, with a sharp snout, dozens of teeth, and claws. It roamed to the edge of the boarder set around the acreage and gave a theatrical roar.

 Arthur frowned. “Oh crumb, it’s just one of those costume meet-and-greets. Ignore them.” He swung away and began walking. “I hate those, I always get heckled.”

 Mystery tilted his head, whining.

 “Those are screams of legit horror, not glee,” Vivi pronounced. She ran back and snagged Arthur by the shoulder. “You should know screams of horror! You’re a connoisseur.”

 Arthur stumbled backwards. “It’s a skill I’m not proud of!”

 Lewis had his head tilt. “Is that a dinosaur?”

 “It’s a guy in a suit!” Arthur spat.

 The dinosaur clambered over the fence and flopped to the pavement. With some effort, it righted itself and crawled across the pavement. It used the shorter front arms to lift up on its large, muscular back legs and trotted forward. It hissed, turning its snout and many teeth toward one of the tourist that had not scampered out of range. With a snarl, the prehistoric nightmare lunged at the man.

 Despite the clear panic and full retreat, the person now under attack made an attempt at snapping off a picture. He wound up dumping the camera in his newfound occupation of retreat, and darted across the pavement a rock formation that served as a makeshift barrier. He made it over the top but tumbled, and crashed into a bush on the other side.

 The dinosaur didn’t fool around with scaling the boulders, it charged at a section of fence built up beside the rocks. It bit through the decorative wood barrier, the glittering claws splintered chunks of bark. The fence collapsed, and the dinosaur prowled in among the shrubs.

 “Whoa!” Lewis yelped. He snatched Arthur’s drink and abandoned his group. “Hold up now!”

 Vivi tried to snatch his shirt back. “Lew! Wait! Art, Mystery! C’mon!” She charged after him. Mystery yapped and wasted no time.

 With a sigh, Arthur ambled after them. “No, Lew. Don’t. Ahh. Scary. Come back. Danger-Danger. Eek.”

 In seconds flat Lewis reached the destroyed barrier and chucked the drink at the dinosaurs shoulder. “Hey! Pick on someone your own size!”

 The dinosaur gave a low, cackling growl and spun away.

 “I said hey! You!” Lewis braced and leapt. “I said, pick on someone—” Before he could clear the brush tangled around the dinosaur, it lashed out with its tail and smacked the would-be hero clear off his feet. He hit a portion of fence that remained standing and flopped to his side, groaning. “Ow….”

 “Arf-Arf!” Mystery dove in and snagged his collar, with every intent to haul the large mortal back. His fur bristled as the dinosaur shoved its snout through the brush and growled through its many sharp teeth.

 Still a distance away from the drama, Arthur stalled in his tracks. “Wait! Holy shit! That’s a lawsuit right there!” And nearby, Vivi shrieked:

 “Arthur!”

 On her way to assist Lewis, she happened by a cafeteria and caught sight of a fire extinguisher attached to a panel on the side of the building – along with a fire hose, and one of the emergency phones. The phone box was locked tight. How practical. She rolled her eyes and delivered a high kick to the fire extinguisher box. The glass shattered, and the door popped open.

 “That… was unlocked. Wasn’t it?” She sighed and took the red cylinder and unclipped the nozzle. “Good to know.”

 Meanwhile, Lewis kicked back from the snapping jaws. The dinosaur clamped down on the standing fence and the whole pole cracked. Lewis pushed Mystery back, while he scooted away from the thrashing menace.

 Right as the beast lunged, Vivi dove in with the fire extinguisher. “Eat therma frost, extinct reject!” She unleashed a torrent of white froth, making sure to cover the eyes and get as much as she could into the mouth. When she tried to move closer, Lewis snagged her leg and the back of her shirt.

 The dinosaur shrieked and sprang backwards. It shook its body and appeared to be trembling. One final roar, directed the groups way, signified its withdrawal. Lewis heaved Vivi backwards, before the tail could slice out and knock her down. The dinosaur didn’t hang around, and stormed across the pavement back to the attraction it may have emerged from. The Land that Time Forgot ride.

 It was only when Vivi allowed the mist to clear that the three could see, the creature had retreated. Arthur came over and barreled through the mystification of what occurred.

 “For that, we should get dibs on every ride in this darn park!” Arthur stooped and patted Lewis on the shoulder. “C’mon. Ya gotta check the guy.” Lewis grumbled confirmation, and let Arthur with Vivi haul him to his feet.

 Vivi inquired, “How you feel?”

 “Mostly shookin’ and stunned.” Lewis flexed his arms and stretched. “It takes more than that to rattle me.”

 Together, the group ventured into the thicket to check the guy that fell. For the most part he was well, a little scratched up from the brush but that broke his fall and saved him a broken bone or two. Not long following, the security force showed up like secret service agents to assess the damage. Secret service agents dressed in dark blue and sweating through their uniform. They gave out checks to everyone who signed a release form, in the presence of one of the parks attorneys, alleging they would not press charges or speak about events, or anything. The affidavit was vague on details.

 “So,” Lewis rolled out, pointing to one of the guys clearly younger than him and getting minimal wage. “This kind of thing happens often?”

 “Um… no?”

 The park attorney, a short lady, pushed her glassed up on her face. Then, pushed the park security aside, and stood up to Lewis. “They’re not authorized to say.”

 Vivi pulled Lewis back and got before the attorney, and pushed her own glasses up. “Y’know what I smell. I smell corporate cover ups. You guys do a lot of that?”

 The attorney glared at Vivi. “I’m not allowed to say.” The two had a stare off, the electricity sparked between them threatening to ignite.

 Lewis got his hands around Vivi’s arms and hauled her back. Park security took ahold of the attorney and ‘escorted’ her aside. “Vamos arándana, don’t antagonize the staff.” Under his breath, “We might yet not get blacklisted from this park.”

 Vivi tried to look back. “I don’t like her.”

 Nearby and with Mystery, Arthur sat on a rock. “Honest, what attorney type are you chill with? I say, don’t sign the slip. Munnies or not.”

 Mystery reached a rear leg up and scratched at the strap of his vest. Woof.

 “Are we going to get back to our vacation?” Arthur harped. “Didn’t really sign up for dino-wrangling.”

 Attorney lady pried out of securities hands, and approached the group. “You three won’t be able to continue your stay with Fanatical Hypes ™, unless you sign the release forms.”

 Lewis looked down at Vivi. “Could it hurt anything? Signing away our souls for corporate profit?”

 Vivi stroked her chin. “Depends.”

 Arthur jumped off the rock. “Oh boy, I know that look. Vii, please. Vacation.” He pressed his hands together. “I’ll sign—”

 “We’ll sign,” Vivi blurted. She went over to the attorney. “On one condition.”

 The attorney sighed. “I am not legally allowed to speak of anything, regarding… this.” She gestured to the damage, and the work crews arriving in golf carts and supplies to begin clearing up the area. Another work crew was off beside the attraction entrance, clipping a chain across the yawning portal.

 Vivi shook her head. “I don’t want to hear what YOU have to say. I want to speak to your manager.”

 Arthur dropped his face into his hands. “Lew, don’t let her do this. Speak some sense into her.”

 Lewis rubbed the back of his head and turned to Arthur. “I think we’re gunna go ahead and do this.”

 With a wet sob, Arthur hauled up Mystery and buried his face in his neck. “We’re getting blacklisted for sure, buddy.

 Mystery sighed and rolled his eyes. He patted Arthur on the head. There-there.

 __

 It wasn’t so easy convincing Ms. Attorney lady that her employer should have a chat with the Mystery Skulls. What this all came down to, was they wouldn’t sign the release forms, and they were suspicious of the dinosaur creature which attacked visitors. Arthur had to pull up their work credentials on his phone, and show off some of the cases dealing with masked people getting into trouble and all that shenanigans for a profit. While Vivi handled pressuring the attorney with her shrewd businesses conduct, and disinterest with discussing further details with attorney lady until she spoke with top management. Lewis backed up his team, being kind of tall and scary when irritated, but mediating the two parties when his team got a little overbearing. The bottom line of their negotiations came down to:

 “And even if they won’t speak with us,” Vivi concluded, “We’ll sign your… sinister contract anyway.”

 Attorney lady blinked. “It’s just a release form.”

 “It’s a legally binding contract! Ya can’t fool me!”

 Now, the group sat in the large and luxurious office. A replica model of the Fanatical Hypes ™, theme park, on the table beside the large desk. A door off to the right led to another room, where the attorney lady vanished into. The trio sat in chairs, and Mystery lay curled beside Vivi’s feet. They examined the room over, gauging the personality and temperament of the manager-owner. Some photos hung in order on one wall, underscoring debut attractions through black and white lens.

 “Daylight’s a’wasting away,” Arthur mumbled.

 “How are we going to enjoy the remainder of our day, if that thing comes roaming again?” Vivi snarked back.

 Arthur leaned back in his chair, letting his head recline on the headrest. “We can’t be like those storm chases, but we’ll be dino chasers. We should get pay per encounter.”

 Lewis leaned a little his way. “We already do that professionally.”

 Arthur twitched. “So why are we tryin’ to get tangled in this mess, on our one day off?”

 Woof. Mystery raised his ears toward Arthur. We’ll get benefits! His bob tail wagged.

 The back door opened, and a man emerged. He wore a nice suit with stripes, along with a bright electrifying tie. He surveyed the group, a set of small but trendy sunglasses fitted over his eyes. Following him was the Ms. Attorney lady. She shut the door and stood to the side.

 “I’m told you three refuse to sign some release forms,” he stated. The attorney nodded.

 Vivi shrugged. “We’re willin’ to sign, but we want to know what that… nasty thing was first. It’s for a little insurance. Your people seem to have a problem, one which my crew is prepared to assist you with.”

 The manager took his seat at the desk. “You think the three of ya’ll can help with an issue my park staff is prepared to amend? With our standardized procedures and dozens of work crews, on standby?” He leaned forward over the desk. “What’s your pitch?”

 The group exchange glances. Lewis stood up. “To start, your go to solution for this gig is have people sign the ambiguous release form. So I ask you, sir, what have you managed to accomplish with all your resources and park staff?” He crossed his arms and grinned.

 Manager blinked and edged back in his seat. “Er, well, my people are adequately trained—”

 “Adequately ain’t cutting it.” Vivi stood up. “My people are experts in this field of work, and we’re gunna save you so much money.”

 Attorney lady inched toward her boss. “Sir, you don’t need to listen to them.” She brought her arms from behind her back, and revealed the sinister clipboard with the forms. “They agreed to sign, if you afforded a short audience. You need not go further with this discussion.” She jolted when Vivi snatched the clipboard away.

 “Oh dear, you’re tots right. Guys.” Vivi set the clipboard on the desk and twirled the pen around her finger. “Guess we’ll be signing and leaving. We’ll just head off to some other amusement park, one with better rides, and the less likely hood of getting mauled. Though I love-love-LOOOOVVE the thrill of danger!” She cackled.

 Lewis brightened. “I love her when she gets like this.”

 “You would.”

 Mystery put his paws up on the desk and looked up at her. Vivi gave his head a pat.

 “A shame, isn’t it Misty?” She put the pen to paper. “He’s so excited to solve mysteries. It’s our raison d'etre. Isn’t that right, Mystery?”

 Lewis reached over and pulled Arthur up by the collar of his vest. The whole group standing, ready to sign and be on their way. When the manager looked his way, Lewis dropped the big grin on his face.

 “Hold on a moment,” Manager stammered. “Let’s not be hasty. Your group is qualified, in this field of work?” He snapped his fingers, looking to the attorney lady. “The Mysterious Stalls?”

 “It’s Mystery Skulls,” Vivi huffed. “And that requires some assessment. What exactly is your problem here? We’ve seen the results,” she gestured around the room, “damaged property, terrified guests—”

 Arthur piped up, “Potential lawsuits. If that thing tangles with the wrong people.” He shrugged, “Those checks won’t cover an amputation, and our guy nearly lost his feet to the jaws of death.”

 Manager groaned and touched his head. “All right-all right.” He reached over the side of his desk and fumbled with the drawers. After a brief spell, he pulled up a pill bottle and a bottle of water. “Ms. Carter,” he turned to the attorney lady. “Can you draft up some new affidavits?” To the Mystery Skulls:

 “You won’t be signing these.” He took the clipboard from Vivi.

 “Sir?” Ms. Carter posed. “Are you certain? These are freelance….”

 “Investigators,” Vivi offered. “And we don’t have a long list of clients, since we are thorough with our work.”

 Manager waved her off. “A brief work contract, swearing their silence if they so choose to work for me. The details of compensation will come later, with the results. Go to it now, I’m paying you.”

 Ms. Carter cast her eyes towards the group, then her employer, before exiting the room by the back door.

 “Now,” Manager replied. “Where to begin?” Again, he rummaged around on the side of his desk. This time he brought forth some folders stuffed with files, and from between the documents tumbled blurred photographs.

 The attraction for The Land Time Forgot, had several independently mobile and free roaming dinosaur animatronics. Models were based around prominent carnivores and herbivores of the cretaceous period – such as stegosaur, the tyrannosaur, raptors, spinosaurus, to name a few. Guests partaking in the ride, rode in a small buggy that navigated through a preset path. The ride was always fresh and exciting due to the primary attraction, the dinosaurs, roaming around or other times interacting with each other. Naturally, certain fail safes were programmed in, which prevented the animatronics from becoming unruly with one another or getting into traffic jams, which would shatter the existence of a natural ecosystem. It was also imperative to keep the imposing machines from wandering through the buggy’s trail, or exiting the park – these features self-sabotaging, since the mobility of each animatronic was limited.

 Save for one.

 “It was a gimmick, an innocent error,” Manager admitted. “One animatronic, the baby Allosaur, began to… deviate from it’s program parameters. At first it was considered an acceptable risk, it was almost real with its behavior. Reacting to lights, the sounds, other animatronics – the flash of a riders camera. But now, it’s an issue.”

 The allosaur deviated further, no longer reacting to only flashing lights or screaming guests. It began lunging at the buggy’s, though it remained within the programmed barrier which kept it from passing onto the road. This as well changed, and now the machine was routinely venturing out of the attraction itself. It was fine for a while, but now the theropod was attacking guests and the outside rides. For the time, the park staff managed to keep a low profile on these events, but rumors spread that one of the rides went haywire and now attendance was dropping.

 “Before,” the manager went on, “Profits boomed. People wanted to come by and see where the Allosaur would appear next. What mischief it’d get up to. But now, it’s damaging property, and I have to pay a higher commission for my attorney to handle guests who encountered it. Profits have plummeted, and thus far we have not been able to contain it. The artificial interface is out of control.”

 While the park manager spilled his tale of woe, the Mystery Skulls crew had resumed sitting. When he dallied on further exposition, they sat quietly, brooding through the context of their situation. Arthur did not look impressed.

 Vivi cleaned her glasses, and spoke, “So… stupid question. Why don’t you, I dunno, shut it off?”

 Manager nodded. “I wouldn’t say that’s a stupid question, more intriguing if anything. There’s a remote kill switch, along with a switch on all the animatronics which cuts power flow. The remote, I guess signal – I’m not good with the technological tactics – the animatronic overrides it. It refuses to shut down.”

 Now Arthur spoke, “That’s some hella AI game there.”

 “It’s cutting edge!” Manager gushed. “The ride was refurbished recently. When I purchased this theme park, I was told it was because the latest innovations went well beyond the anticipated recurring profits the original owner intended to make. Now though? I’m not certain if that was the genuine issue.”

 Lewis held up a hand and began counting off fingers. “Okay, so that we’re on the same page. One, you can’t shut it down. Two, you haven’t been able to catch-slash-stop it.” Manager nodded. “Cool. I think we can manage one of those two things. How ‘bout it Vii? You think we can handle this?”

 Vivi crossed her arms. “I actually think we should. We can handle it sir….”

 “It’s Klayton.” He rose from the desk and extended his hand.

 In due time, Ms. Carter returned from the back room with the paperwork for the short-term contract. It was a few pages long of formality, barring the Mystery Skulls ™ from speaking about the park, or do anything aside from detaining the Allosaur. There was a termination order, should they fail within a week to fulfill their objective. The group signed, as with Mr. Klayton and it was notarized by Ms. Carter.

 From there, the Mystery Skulls exited the managers headquarters, and returned to the attraction which housed the disastrous Allosaur.

 The first stop was the small disaster zone, where the Allosaur rampaged. Caution tape and some mobile barriers had been set up, barring guests from the traumatized site. Arthur slipped under a slant of the tape and examined the splintered pole from the fence. A couple meters away, Vivi stood examining the blocked entrance of the attraction. On the pavement, Lewis checked a muddy footprint.

 “What’d you take from all that?” Lewis called. “About the AI going haywire, and targeting guests?”

 Arthur dropped a splinter of wood. “Utter bullshit. I think it could still be some guy in a costume, like those meet-and greets.” He pulled out his phone and began swiping through the internet. “Allosaurs are much bigger, so why not make an animatronic to scale? Also, the movement was too smooth for a machine.” He approached Lewis and gave him a show of the images. Lewis nodded.

 “What about the Walking with Dinosaurs show? They mix people in costume and animatronics.” He poked Arthur’s phone, swiping away the images.

 Arthur muttered under his breath, “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

 Lewis grinned. “C’mon, it’ll be fun. And we can bargain in free food and lifelong passes.” Mystery came over to them, and he reached down to pet the hound. “And there’s no way we’ll get Blacklisted.” He unclipped the vest from Mystery and folded up under his arm. “You won’t be needing that.”

 Mystery had a full body shake. His hair poofed up all across his formerly lean dog shape, making him look vaguely pufferfish.

 “This was our holiday.” Arthur snorted, and pulled up some more search sites with images. “Let corporate avarice deal with berserk Jurassic Park gone exactly as expected.” When Vivi came over, he handed his phone to her and gave a brief of the speculations.

 “Don’t get confused,” Vivi stated. “We’re not doing this for Park Avarice. We’re doing it for the people that come here, unaware that the ride is dangerous ‘cause of the coverups. Still, someone is out there spreading the rumors, and persuading people to stay away. That’s definitely not done out of any kind of Whistle Blowing moral obligation.”

 Lewis cooed, “You think someone tampered with the animatronic.”

 “Yup. Someone wants to sabotage the park, and they don’t care if anyone get’s hurt along the way.” She turned to Arthur and handed back his phone.. “You wanna help people, right? And you’re good with electronics, maybe better than the engineers enlisted here.”

 Arthur pocketed his phone. “I work engines. There’s a distinct difference between circuits and engines.”

 “Anyway,” Vivi announced. She brushed past the guys and climbed onto one of the lower rocks, within the small garden plot. “We’re gonna solve this case, and prove once again you don’t mess with professional investigators!” She pointed her finger high, a playful gust whipped around her hair. Mystery hopped up onto the rock beside her and posed.

 Arf!

 Arthur leaned into Lewis. “She’s doing the pose again.”

 Lewis slipped a hand beside his face, and stage whispered, “The pose is empowering. It speaks to the spirits, beseeches their protection.”

 Arthur sighed. “We’re cursed now. Our quest is doomed.”

[onisionhurtspeople]

Quick question, what was the whole thing with sarah? Something about how they were technically legal guardians, she was 15, but wanted to be in the """"triad""""?

You pretty much got it. I might make a longer post about this later to explain the entire history for newcomers (and I’m thinking about doing this across a wide range of Onision topics), but essentially what happened is that Lainey met Sarah online about four years ago, when Lainey was 20 and Sarah was 14. People started speaking up out of concern right away after perusing some of the public conversations between the two on Twitter and realizing how much of it was sexual in nature, such as Lainey joking about how Sarah’s grooming was coming along nicely.

People were rightfully concerned about this, as it was more than clear by this point that Greg has a predominant sexual interest in teenage girls (though he is very careful to make sure never to shack up with a girl who is younger than the age of consent in her state). 

The drama surrounding this relationship exploded when Sarah, now 15, began popping up in videos with Greg, Lainey, Billie, and Ayallah. The Avaroes began catching a lot of flack for this online - I remember the time very well; in between the period of Greg’s tumultuous and highly dramatic public relationship with Shiloh in 2011, and the period in late 2015 when an online journalist wrote an article about Greg rating the bodies of underage girls (which predated all of their drama with Billie), I don’t think I can recall any other incident in that time that they caught more criticism for. Lainey specified repeatedly in YouNow livestreams that she had parental guardianship over Sarah at the time - not Greg, not Sarah’s mother or father, but Lainey herself. Click here if you want to watch that stream.

Sometime in 2016, a couple of really creepy things happened in quick succession: the first was when a former friend of the Avaroes revealed that Sarah had repeatedly expressed an interest in being part of the “triad” (the “polyamorous” relationship between Greg, Lainey, and their girlfriend Billie), in the sense that she wanted to start being included during their sexual trysts; Greg apparently refused this. The second was when - after another falling out with yet another former friend - this friend (who was also a teenage girl! Shocking!), whose name was Lane, revealed that Sarah had told her several times about Greg repeatedly telling both she and Lainey that he thought they were going to end up together one day, and that in his opinion they should try dating each other. Sarah admitted later that she did remember Greg telling her several times that she should try being with Lainey, but Greg denied this and said that he and Lainey have had to tell Sarah repeatedly that they will never be more than just friends (which begs the question: if you have to tell a 15-year-old girl over TEN TIMES that they are never going to be able to date or have sex with your wife, then why are you still letting that girl live in your house? Why are you still bathing naked in front of that girl?) What’s so creepy about this last event in particular is the fact that not only was Sarah only 16, but also that at the time, Lainey had guardianship rights over Sarah - she was acting in the capacity of her legal guardianship, LITERALLY HER PARENT IN EVERY WAY, while Greg was trying to push the idea of them having sex together. 

One of the creepiest things that some of the farmers in the lolcow and Kiwifarms forums discovered was that it is (or, at least, was) a regular enough occurrence for Lainey to allow Sarah to watch her shower and bathe that he eventually had to tell Lainey to knock it off. This was confirmed (as well as it can be without direct substantiation from the involved parties) when farmers found a picture from Lainey’s private Instagram that was taken of her nude in the shower - but Sarah was the one taking the photo. This was doubly confirmed when some apparently “fake” screenshots of Lainey’s private Twitter account surfaced of her accusing Sarah of watching her bathe; yet despite their apparent lack of authenticity, when they were sent to Sarah by a concerned party, she reacted to the fake tweets nervously, which seemed to confirm that even if they were fake, the accusations in them appeared to be legitimate.

In summary: Sarah is a lost and confused barely-18-year-old girl with a mental illness who is very very clearly desperately in love with Lainey, and seems to have confused her feelings of love, friendship, admiration, safety, and gratitude towards Greg and Lainey as the ones who took her out of a sexually abusive home life and provided her with a safe and stable living situation (in her eyes, anyway) with romantic attraction. She’s also never really had many friends her own age due to both the instability of her upbringing as well as the fact that she spent a good chunk of her teenage years living with Greg and Lainey, and the revolving door of paid collaborators and fresh teen puss that Greg had flying through their house constantly (like Billie, Ayallah, Sam, Beck, Madison, and Maya, at the very least). 

Greg saw this vulnerable teenage girl as at best an opportunity to get his wife off his back by providing her with a subservient friend who would help her with child-rearing and chores and all of the emotional support that Greg wasn’t willing to do for Lainey, and at worst a soft trial to see how well she’d fit in as their third. Meanwhile, although Lainey professes to have Sarah’s best interest at heart, her actions contradict that regularly. She has done many things to betray Sarah’s trust, but the poor girl is so blinded by love that all the red flags she’s seeing through her rose-colored glasses just look like regular flags to her. Lainey has, for example, repeatedly used Sarah as a sort of emotional garbage can, such as when the two of them sat down to talk to Billie to ask her not to sleep with Greg - why the fuck would you bring a 15-year-old girl into such adult issues because you’re too weak to stand up to your own husband? Every time they send Sarah home out of spite over some minor perceived infraction, Lainey ignores her for weeks or even months at a time until Sarah has sent a sufficiently large quantity of gifts for the Avaroes to decide to “forgive” her past misdeeds, and welcomed her graciously back into their home. She repeatedly fails to defend Sarah against Greg’s insinuations, harsh words, and sexual harassment, such as allowing him to taunt her, calling her fat and plain. The last time that Sarah was sent home, it was because Greg had made a sexual comment towards her that made her feel uncomfortable (”Dat booty doe”); and Lainey, instead of protecting her underage best friend from her sexual predator of a husband, decided to tattle on her instead. And so Greg punished her disloyalty by sending her home, and she’s never been back since until this past weekend, when everything exploded again with renewed allegations that they’ve been grooming this girl since she was fourteen years old. These people are horrific.

Accidentally ended up writing a novel again. Sorry, guys. ;A;

[rhysand-vs-fenrys]

A PSA on Online Scams and Creeps (Please Read)

I know this isn’t typically what you all see from me, but lately I’ve gotten a lot of messages from various scam tumblrs, a handful of e-mails, and even a few phone calls. Others have been reporting the same uptick in scammers, and so I wanted to do a PSA for those of you who might find yourselves vulnerable.

Scams do not just target the old and elderly, I personally know people who fell prey to scammers who are teenagers or in their early 20s, and every personal story I share in this post is from someone within that age range.

In this post I’m going to describe some of the scams I’ve seen, and then later on I have a message for anyone who has been the victim of one of these scams.

There is no judgement against anyone who has been duped, if it comes across that way I wholeheartedly apologize. The purpose of this post is to identify some common scams and give some advice on how to handle them if you’ve been caught in a trap. Victim shaming is not my intention.

The Scams:

Hey, I’m a celebrity you love and I’m DM’ing you to tell you _______.

This is like a daily occurrence in some fandoms (Sebastian Stan fandom gets it 8 times a day and that’s why I’m tagging that fandom on this). It presents itself like this: You get a DM on twitter or IG from an account with a similar name to the URL of your favorite celebrity. They tell you they’ve seen your posts in their defense, they’ve gotten your messages, or they saw your icon after noticing you in the comments and fell in love. The first messages probably seem chaste- they’re just opening the door for a conversation and will gradually push it from there. 

The important thing to know about these is that they are FAKE, but they’re also good at what they do. They’ll back down if you start to pull back, they’ll reassure you, they might even say “I know it sounds like a scam but I couldn’t send this from my real account because ______”. 

No matter what reason they give::: It. Isn’t. Real.

It’s a lovely thought- that your favorite celebrity fell in love with you via IG or twitter. That you moved them so much with your care and honest defense of their honor that they’ve fallen for you in some kind of fairytale romance- but it isn’t real. This scam segues into asking for your address or asking for pictures or money- none of which you should be giving away online to anyone, no matter what. If they really want to contact you, tell them to do it from their verified account, no matter what their excuses are, or they can contact you through official channels.

A friend of mine in high school legitimately believed she was in an online and snail-mail based relationship with voice actor Vic Mignogna, and whatever guy it really was started by sending her little things based on the shows that actor worked on- little fangear trinkets. Over MONTHS it segued into him asking her to send him stuff- like “send me $15 and I’ll hook you up with this little exclusive thing”, or “hey, can I get a picture of you in that skimpy tee I sent”. Luckily she wised up to what was going on (after she told some of us and we told her if she didn’t sound the alarm we would) and handed that e-mail address and the address she’d sent cash to over to the police.

Hi, I’m a follower or other user or this messaging service who wants to talk to you and see where things go...

Skype is the absolute WORST for this scam, but I have personally dealt with this one though even just tumblr. Sometimes it’s a scammer, sometimes it’s just a creeper, either way, it’s dangerous.

My experience was with two followers who I’d chat with normally and they seemed fine, then they started getting more and more out there with their messages. One would ask me for pictures of me in a swimsuit, the other KEPT making comments like “I’m going out with friends tonight, I wish you were with us...” and ignored me repeatedly saying those kinds of comments made me uncomfortable (Flirting with an online person just feels skeevy to me). 

I blocked both, and that’s really the best thing you can do. Don’t forget- scammers or pervs will spend weeks if not months if they think their efforts can end in a pay day. 

It’s called “catfishing” (though that term mostly refers to when the scammers target men). You can google it for a plethora of examples of various tricks and traps used.

Skype is dangerous particularly because it deals with your webcam. You might see a legit person on your screen, but don’t let that trick you into trusting them. NEVER send an online person something- loaning money via paypal can end with your account hacked, sending stuff IRL is just paying into their hands directly, and things like nude pictures/videos??? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!!!!!! Just because you can see them on your screen doesn’t mean you can trust them.

A Note About Webcam Hacks//Videos

A lot of scams are scams because they start innocently. A relationship building via some messaging service (this one happened through an early version of skype to someone close to me) leads to... well... you know. You flash a bit of skin, maybe some cleavage, maybe you talk in a swimsuit top or bra, then maybe it slowly escalates and you’re covered by a blanket but you’re encouraged to masturbate while they watch your face or engage in some form of cybersex. 

It is absurdly easy to record what is on the screen of your computer. In most Macs, the program is even available as an app to record your screen and/or skype calls specifically. Hell, I’ve used that same program on my PC when working on projects for language classes in school. 

I talk in a moment about what to do if you’ve been scammed via an inappropriate video or pictures, but know that cyber-sex is DANGEROUS because of how easy it is to blackmail someone with a screenshot or video. 

There is good news if you’re facing that and I will get into that later, but I wanted to post this here along with that previous story.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU’VE BEEN CAUGHT IN A TRAP

****FIRST OFF::: SAVE ANY AND ALL MESSAGES ON AN EXTERNAL DRIVE, FLASH DRIVE, E-MAIL SCREENSHOTS TO YOURSELF, AND/OR SAVE THEM TO A CLOUD SITE, THIS IS EVIDENCE.

***** SECOND OFF::: WITH ALL THAT INFO SAVED- INCLUDING THE SCAMMER’S PROFILE INFORMATION- CALL THE POLICE. SAVING THE EVIDENCE IS IMPORTANT, BUT CALLING THE POLICE IS NON-NEGOTIABLE. THAT IS THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO IF YOU ARE BEING SCAMMED. 

If you live in the United States, do not be alarmed if you call the police and they mention the FBI It sounds intimidating, but the FBI handles crimes that cross state boundaries (where there are questions of jurisdiction) and international issues. Because of that mandate, cyber crimes automatically fall under their command, since they can more easily investigate.

ALSO-- DO NOT TELL THE PERSON SCAMMING YOU THAT YOU ARE CALLING THE POLICE. DO NOT THREATEN THEM, DO NOT SAY OR DO ANYTHING BUT CALL THE POLICE. 

Once you have contacted the police, report that person’s profile/username to the website or app you met them through. Every single site has a way to report scammers. Take advantage.

The Bad News:

If you’ve been scammed out of money via paypal or you were tricked into sending someone money for any purpose (to help with their “bills” or even straight-up blackmail money):: You’re not seeing that money ever again, more likely than not.

If you’re being blackmailed or scammed by someone you know, then yes- you might be able to take them to court and get that money back... But most scammers online aren’t caught. 

There’s just not enough manpower in law enforcement or cooperation between state or national governments for any kind of significant prosecution unless they break more laws than lying online or blackmail. Now, if there is a sexual component to this, that changes how strongly they’ll focus on the case, but you’re still not likely to see the money again.

The Good News

No matter what threats are made against you, no matter what the person scamming you may say--- most scammers do not follow through with their blackmail threats.

Even if they send you screen shots to prove they have whatever they are blackmailing you with (usually blackmail has a sexual component, but not always), even if they sound super serious, most do not follow through.

The fact of the matter is that a lot of scammers do this as their way of making money. They can’t be bothered to follow through with the threats, because it invites more trouble than it’s worth. Remember when I said a lot of scammers aren’t caught because countries can’t be bothered with blackmail and making false statements online? Well that goes out the window as soon as they actually follow through. The charges become more serious, especially if they release any videos or pictures they have of you.

I’ve got to put it in here to be super clear- some may follow through. When I say most scammers don’t follow through I mean that in the handful of cases I have seen of this IRL with friends or even family, the threats were baseless. They never followed through no matter how far they went with the threats- threats that included fabricating screenshots that “show” them e-mailing the file or video to mutual contacts or again doctored images that make it look like they’ve created a profile in your name.

I worked on a documentary about people being scammed, and while that mostly focused on the elderly, we saw plenty of cases where it happened to a teen or young adult. I don’t know of a single case- of the dozen or so I heard- where the person trying to blackmail the victim ever actually did what they said they would. In looking up scams online you see hundreds of stories of people calling the scammer’s bluff and nothing ever escalates.

Again, I’m not saying it never happens, I’m saying that in my experience, the odds are massively in your favor.

If someone *does* follow through with their blackmail threats though---

The Good News

Compromising pictures and media are the most common way scammers catch you in their traps and extort you for money. They threaten to post the videos/pictures if you don’t put up however much they’re demanding.

THE LAW IS ON YOUR SIDE.

Even just in the last MONTH, countries all around the world (including the US and many states individually) have been passing stricter and stricter laws against what is known as “revenge porn”. What ‘revenge porn’ means is that it does not matter if you were consenting to appear on webcam with someone and have cybersex- it doesn’t matter if you willingly recorded it- if the video or any pictures are posted online without your express consent and permission, the person who posted it can be arrested and the website the video is on can be sued.

Because of these stricter laws protecting people from having their privacy violated so wholly, porn websites are getting better about making it easy to report revenge porn and they take it down DAMN FAST. Depending on where you are, a website can be sued for EACH VIEW the video got before it was taken down, adding an extra layer of incentive for them to get it down FAST.

If someone posts ANYTHING without your consent, your first call is to the police to file a police report (in most states this can be done over the phone and you might have to go in at a later time to actually sign the papers). The second thing you do is report that video and contact the website it was posted to. Again, take a screenshot that shows the URL of the site and, if you can, the username of the person posting it. Then take another screen shot of that person’s profile page on the website.

The Bad News

The bad side of this is that yes, people will see it. It might be just one, it might be a much higher number before it’s caught and taken down. The odds are that no one you know will see it unless they’re specifically sent it by the person attacking you.

It’s a horrible situation to be in, and knowing that the law is on your side doesn’t change the embarrassment you feel or the shame of being tricked, but know that you’re the victim. Maybe you made a bad call, trusted the wrong person, but you aren’t the bad guy in this story. The person who is attacking you is the one to blame.

Call the police, I can’t stress that enough. Call the police because they see this happening and they’re police officers because they want to help people and because they want to make things safer. Everything you feel- every last ounce of stress and pain- by calling the police you have the power to maybe stop someone else from feeling that.

It’s a sad fact of the world we live in that people online need to be treated like a computer virus. Don’t trust easily, don’t trust wholly, and don’t take anything at face-value alone.

Also- if someone wants your bank account number for any reason, asks you to send them money for any reason, or even randomly one day sends you a link they want you to blindly follow, BLOCK their ass and spare yourself the headache.

[geekade]

Back to Hogwarts - Part the Seventh

Welcome back readers! It’s been a long road, but we’ve finally reached the last book. At least now the division of my coverage of these books matches that of the movies (sort of). The first half of book 7 could easily be a one big set up piece, a “get to the fireworks factory” slog. Much as I love the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the journey to the final battle does tend to go on (and on and on). Instead, here we get a well-built story containing some excellent character moments and a really thoughtful progression of events (as we’ve come to expect from the author by now. Let’s take a look at what makes this “beginning of the end” so special.

Seven books in, Rowling is still finding creative ways to provide exposition. In a story as wide-ranging as this, there’s no avoiding it, as there are so many relevant events that take place outside of the main characters’ experiences. Since the Penseive was becoming such a tiresome device, it was refreshing to get intel on the past by way of Harry’s disguised conversations with Doge and Auntie Muriel at the wedding. Likewise, the use of Extendable Ears to eavesdrop on the refugee wizards and goblins' conversation in the woods was a fitting way for our heroes to learn what’s going on in the outside world, since they are, by necessity, otherwise cut off from it. Both of these scenes might be considered too convenient, except that they serve multiple functions. In the case of the wedding, it provides some much needed lightness in a very dark story and reminds Harry of the simple pleasures in life that make his sacrifices worth making. And the refugee scene just makes sense; it would be totally natural that otherwise unlikely companions would find themselves lumped together under fear of persecution. They’d be seeking shelter in the same types of places Harry and company would be, so they’d be bound to run into one of these groups eventually. And these folks would logically be interested in discussing exactly the matters that the protagonists need to know about. Both scenes are textbook examples of excellent exposition that make logical sense and fit seamlessly into the narrative.

There are a lot of hard to read moments in this book that really confirm that the series has matured along with its audience and characters. Of course the deaths of Hedwig and Mad-Eye are upsetting, even moreso than the deaths we’ve read before in the series because they’re so dear to our hearts (and to Harry’s). But beyond that, this book offers moments darker than ever seen before. Detestable as Kreacher is, the combination of Hermione’s sympathy, in spite of his strong distaste for her, and our knowledge of Harry and Dumbledore’s experience with the potion from the basin in the cave makes his story so difficult to get through (and almost makes all that SPEW business worth it). And, in my opinion, the discomfort of that scene is relatively small compared with the excruciating flashback Harry experiences in Godric’s Hollow, detailing his parents’ final moments. It may be my perspective as a parent, it may be that I’d completely forgotten about this moment so it read as new. Whatever it was, reading as Harry relived his parents’ deaths was almost too much to bear and was more heartbreaking to me than anything else in the first half of this book.

Rowling has been incredibly active on Twitter lately, combatting trolls on current events. With the frightening parallels to past historical tragedy and the threat of history repeating itself these days, it’s not hard to see why. In the wizarding world, a small, hateful group has taken power over both the government and the press while the rest of the community bands together to #resist. The face of the government is a puppet, controlled by a behind-the-scenes hatemonger. The activities surrounding the Muggle-Born Registry smacks of recent government activity aimed at keeping “bad outsiders” out of our country. The Snatchers feel equivalent to the ICE raids happening daily. The Quibbler, a formerly frivolous media outlet, has become the trusted source for truth, the Teen Vogue of the Potterverse. Ron is constantly putting himself in harm’s way to protect Hermione because of her blood status, reminiscent of the way Germans hid Jews from the Nazis in the 1940s. Ron also offers the logic that the existence of Squibs proves Muggle-borns couldn’t steal magic if they wanted to. RON WEASLEY HAS A POINT, Y’ALL, but nobody is listening. All of this feels horrifyingly familiar. It was frightening on first reading, but not nearly as scary as it is to read now because these sorts of things are actually happening in real life and I. HAVE. CHILLS.

Speaking of Ron, let’s look at how he evolves over the course of the first half of this story. In the beginning, Ron is typical Ron; an ass focused on “How to Charm Witches,” rather than the important matters. His failure to take their situation as seriously as the others leads to his explosion and separation from his friends. Ron is a complete fucking moron for leaving, of course, but his immediate regret reveals that he’s not mad at them, he’s mad at himself for not realizing before now how bad things are and how hard the struggle truly is going to be. And who can blame him? Ron’s seen tough times throughout the series and he’s always contributed to their victories, but in the end Harry’s always triumphed and he’s always been along for the ride. Now, triumph seems far beyond their grasp and his frustration with the situation is taken out on his friends. Thankfully Rowling allows Ron to redeem himself and show growth, both through magical intervention (by hearing his friends through the Deluminator) and via his thrilling heroics. His relationship with Hermione remains complicated, but their story is not over at this point. As much as I want them to JUST KISS, her beating the crap out of him on his return feels more right.

And speaking of Hermione, her resourcefulness continues to impress. When she revealed that she used a Summoning charm to obtain the books about Horcruxes from Dumbledore’s office, I was legitimately surprised it had taken her this long to resort to that kind of tactic, but pleased with the logic that it couldn’t have been done prior, as Dumbledore’s protective charms on the objects in his office died with him. It’s one of many examples of Rowling being very careful to set up obstacles in such a way that our heroes can’t just magic their way out of anything. It’s the same thing that makes superhero stories interesting; it’s enjoyable to read about characters who have abilities that we don’t, but if they can just do anything they want, what’s the point? (Rules really do make the game more fun, you guys.) I really adore the way Hermione and Ron are falling in love in a totally unconscious way; they bicker and fight like an old married couple already, but they also always reach for each other to protect each other in moments of fear and danger. It’s quite endearing and makes for a great payoff later in the book. Hermione also gets some great, smaller moments of Being Right, including scolding Harry’s doubt of Dumbledore in the face of false reports from biased sources and her understanding of wizard-house elf relations being the key to getting the first Horcrux of the book. My only gripe with her in this section is her insistence that Harry use Occlumency to fight Voldemort. It’s within character, of course, but a bit grating, since she doesn’t seem to get that it’s one of those talents you can’t master at will and have to know how it feels to be able to do it (not to mention what a handy literary device it is).

Dumbledore may be dead, but he is still such a presence in both Harry’s life and this book. As we learned from Lin-Manuel Miranda “you have no control/who lives, who dies, who tells your story,” and that all comes across heavily here. Harry’s regret in not having asked Dumbledore more questions, about the mission and about himself, before his death is so relatable. Harry’s commitment to confirming the truth about Dumbledore mimics Dumbledore’s own commitment to confirming the truth about Riddle in the previous book, though Harry isn’t consciously aware of the lesson he’s learned from the mentor who would be proud of Harry for investigating his background. Throughout the series, I believe that the journey of Harry and the reader is meant to be parallel, but here we find out that those journeys are also parallel to that of one Albus Dumbledore. Harry shows the same naivete in believing Skeeter’s book as Albus showed in believing in Grindelwald as a young man, as the reader shows if they believe what Harry believes, which a younger reader might, but an older, more critical reader is better equipped to see the author’s misdirection. It’s all terribly clever of Rowling and a bit easier to see on a reread when the reader is not so caught up in the tension and excitement of the plot. And while we also know there are plenty of similarities between Harry and Voldemort, this part of this book serves to crystallize the difference between them. Harry is as driven and arguably reckless in pursuit of his goals as Voldemort is, as we see in the mission to retrieve the locket from the Ministry. And he could have gotten away with it much more cleanly had he only stunned Yaxley and Umbridge and slipped away under the Invisibility cloak. But Harry is our hero and he cannot leave the innocent Muggle-born prisoners in the hands of a corrupted Ministry. So as we prepare for final faceoff between these two, it’s nice to have their differences confirmed as much as their similarities.

I’m leaving off here, after the destruction of the first Horcrux, with so much more to come. Normally I finish writing before I move on to read the next section, but I confess this time to being too invested to stop reading this time, so I’m already super pumped to bring you the exciting conclusion. See you all next month!

[thisdaynews]

The Trouble with TikTok

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/the-trouble-with-tiktok/

The Trouble with TikTok

Margaret Sullivan was having fun. TheWashington Postmedia critic and former public editor of theNew York Timescollaborated in the production of a humorous musical video on TikTok earlier this month. “You hardened journos may think this is pointless,” she tweeted, “but the street cred I now have with my 12-year-old twin goddaughters…” A few days later, anotherWashington PostTikTok popped up, tweeted by Dave Jorgenson, thePost’s in-house TikTok expert. In it, happy newsroom faces flash by in a series of quick cuts, with the notable exception of a deadpan Marty Baron, the paper’s executive editor.

Set to upbeat music, these quirky videos seem relatively harmless. They’re simple promotional vehicles, and they attract young TikTok-loving audiences. But America’s journalists, like America’s youth, are falling in love with the most effective medium ever introduced to extend Chinese media practices into the United States. Journalists should not be promoting a platform with a documented history of political censorship. Nor should journalists use TikTok as a news medium, because TikTok—unlike other attempts to extend authoritarian media globally, such as RT (Russia Today)—relies on its users’ ignorance of its origins and practices. How many teens, or journalists, are aware TikTok’s Chinese parent company, Bytedance, paid what was at the time the largest fine in Federal Trade Commission history for invading the privacy of underage users?

Story Continued Below

TikTok seems like a great new media story, and, in some ways, it is. For a relatively new social media platform, TikTok’s numbers are staggering. It is the No. 1 app downloaded in the iOS store, and it’s estimated that in the first quarter of 2019, more than 220 million TikTok app downloads occurred between Google Play and Apple’s iOS store. Funny TikTok memes pop up on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as in its proprietary app. If TikTok seems like it’s everywhere these days, that’s because Bytedance spends a fortune to keep teens hooked and to keep everyone else talking about it. In September, TikTok was the top advertiser on Snapchat, and the second-largest advertiser on Youtube. TheWall Street Journalreports that Bytedance plans to spend an astounding $1 billion advertising TikTok this year.

But from a journalistic perspective, the question of what can’t be found on TikTok is more important than the quirky music videos that dominate the app. TikTok, which is called Douyin in China, is the first successful global social media giant pioneered domestically under the Chinese censorship regime, and since the app’s introduction, questions have swirled about what videos are allowed to appear on the platform. According to internal documents describing TikTok’s guidelines obtained by theGuardian—policies that TikTok now claims are outdated and no longer employed—TikTok censored videos mentioning taboo topics in China, such as Tiananmen Square, Tibetan and Taiwanese independence and the Falun Gong. Likewise, videos and hashtags about the Hong Kong protests “barely exist on TikTok,” theWashington Postnoted. A former TikTok content moderator told theNew York Timesthat, in the newspaper’s words, “managers in the United States had instructed moderators to hide videos that included any political messages or themes, not just those related to China.”

TikTok is both an audacious attempt to extend Chinese global media reach and a fun app that promotes joy. Those two realities aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, they’re symbiotic. According to the documents obtained bytheGuardian, TikTok censored numerous subjects that extend beyond the obvious topics deemed dangerous to the Chinese state. According to theGuardian’sreporting on the directives in the documents, TikTok suppressed videos about “a specific list of 20 ‘foreign leaders or sensitive figures’ including Kim Jong-il, Kim Il-sung, Mahatma Gandhi, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Kim Jong-un, [and] Shinzo Abe.” Think of how much social media vitriol is generated by figures on that list, and it’s easy to understand why a fun app would want to blacklist those politically divisive figures.

After the documents were revealed, the company issued a statement denying it continues its previous policies. “Let us be very clear,” the company said, “TikTok does not remove content based on sensitivities related to China. We have never been asked by the Chinese government to remove any content and we would not do so if asked. Period. Our U.S. moderation team, which is led out of California, reviews content for adherence to our U.S. policies—just like other U.S. companies in our space. We are not influenced by any foreign government, including the Chinese government.”

Still, despite TikTok’s new claims to be observing standard U.S. media practices, it’s clear that until very recently TikTok more closely monitored its content than its American social media competitors did. Even if TikTok might not formally remove content, the former content moderator interviewed by theNew York Timesnoted that TikTok employed what’s commonly known as “shadow banning,” a practice that would allow “such political posts to remain on users’ profile pages but … prevent them from being shared more widely in TikTok’s main video feed.”

The global debate over the tension between free expression and social harmony is seemingly playing out everywhere today. China’s enormous economic leverage has created new parameters for conduct and behavior by business partners seeking access to the Chinese market. Just as the NBA had to very carefully navigate a tweet by a Houston Rockets executive supporting the Hong Kong protests that infuriated the Chinese state, so too must Hollywood producers, video game corporations, book and newspaper publishers, and numerous other businesses navigate Chinese censorship demands. These demands are becoming more common and more insistent, and on platforms like TikTok, they’ll no doubt continue to emerge.

Chinese censorship has gone global. Just as the U.S. government spent the second half of the 20th century encouraging the global expansion of American values, such as freedom of expression, the Chinese government has now opened the first half of the 21st century by promoting global restrictions intended to ensure approving portrayals of Chinese state authority. The consequences of this evolution in global media culture arise almost daily. When Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg proclaims the importance of free speech, as he did recently in a speech at Georgetown University, his implicit target is the Chinese regime that bans Facebook, not progressives who want Facebook to more tightly regulate political advertising and hate speech. Facebook, it should be noted, will soon launch “Lasso,” a direct competitor to TikTok.

In recent public pronouncements and congressional hearings, some U.S. politicians argue Twitter and Facebook are, in fact, doing too littleto combat the dangerous spread of misinformation and inflammatory propaganda. Under this line of thinking, moderation policies like TikTok’s might offer a remedy to America’s social media ills. Senator Kamala Harris, for example, has called for Twitter to shutter President Donald Trump’s account because of what she says are his violations of Twitter’s terms of service. Zuckerberg had no answer when Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked him whether Facebook would prohibit political advertisements featuring provable and obvious lies.

This battle between free expression and policing of content is playing out within TikTok, too. TheWall Street Journalrecently reported that ISIS uploaded gruesome torture and beheading videos—set to danceable music and accompanied with celebratory emojis—to TikTok. The videos were not detected and deleted by TikTok until the newspaper made the company aware of their existence. By then, they had been shared thousands of times. When terrorists and criminals violate terms of service by spreading messages or portraying crimes that directly inspire violence through algorithmic networks, some level of content control might be deemed legitimate even by libertarian critics. Questions like these speak to the most fundamental notions of what constitutes an ethical and responsible public sphere and how a society should organize and regulate its media.

Democracy and efficiency often sit in conflict. The issues arising with TikTok, Facebook and Twitter are forcing every nation and society to calibrate its tolerance for media freedom on a spectrum that runs from the protection of liberty through the encouragement of accuracy to the enforcement of harmony.

It’s the responsibility of journalists to explain this context, and right now, they’re falling down on the job. Not long ago, theNew York Timespublished a largely celebratory article about TikTok and its embrace by American high school students and educators. The reporter, Taylor Lorenz, noted parenthetically that TikTok’s corporate owner Bytedance is a “Chinese tech conglomerate,” but nowhere was TikTok’s history of censorship of content inimical to the Chinese state’s authority mentioned.

Perhaps more important, nowhere did Lorenz mention TikTok paid a $5.7 million fine to the U.S. government earlier this year. The fine, paid to settle violations identified by the FTC, involved the illegal collection of “names, email addresses, pictures and locations of kids under age 13,” as theWashington Postreported,adding that it was “a record penalty for violations of the nation’s child privacy law.” One would think a feature article celebrating a social media app’s enormous popularity among American teens would note that it had not only demographically targeted users younger than 13, but that it had also admitted illegally collecting information about them.

For users who might consider employing TikTok in schools—and news sites—around America, the inclusion of such relevant information is essential. The general tone of the piece would not have to change at all; TikTok is, in many ways, a liberating social technology that brings much joy to the lives of millions of American teenagers. But it’s also a Chinese social media program that’s settled with the FTC for illegally collecting information on underage users, has a history of censoring user-generated content, and is now said to be under investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a governmental review panel. That national security investigation is looking into how the app sends data back to China.

Just as any article about Facebook would be incomplete if it ignored Facebook’s history of apologies for admitted privacy violations, any article about TikTok that omits its record of censorship and illegal behavior is irresponsible.

This might be the juncture where TikTok and its American counterparts meet. None of the social media giants, whether American or Chinese, wants to reveal embarrassing information about how it actually conducts its work as media. Yet it seems clear all social media—whether TikTok, Weibo, Facebook or Twitter—privilege state or corporate authority above the public’s interest. That makes them terrific vehicles for advertising and propaganda.

It also means the need for independent, comprehensive and critical reporting about these apps is vital. Watching journalists vie to become “TikTok famous” like high school teenagers isn’t encouraging.

Read More

[21stcenturymen]

I'm Sorry You Feel that Way

RATING: Teen

It's been interesting watching the fallout from the #MeToo movement affect men of all ilks. Granted, pretty much anyone would fear being accused of something they didn't do, but for the most part, these accusations are happening to guys who actually did the things they're accused of.

And Isobel O’Hare is fixing their apologies.

But apologies aren't just for people who commit crimes. Sometimes, a regular person does something mean, ill-advised, or ignorant, and they need to make their mea culpa. Ever listened to or read some of the political or celebrity apologies out there? They're usually awful. But why? Why are they always so bad? It’s usually two-fold:

They’re not actually sorry.

They don’t believe they should have to apologize because “it’s not that big a deal.”

For the first reason, it’s important to understand that having shame over doing something wrong doesn’t make someone a bad person. Failing to correct behaviors and thinking you’re better than other people does, though.

For the second reason, it’s not up to you what a “big deal” is to someone else. If you’ve hurt someone, they decide that, not you. And if you think, “Ugh, they’re just so sensitive!” then I have to ask, why aren’t you? What value do you perceive in not caring about what affects other people? If you’re thinking you lack intimate relationships, have you considered caring about the things other people care about instead of chastising them for being sensitive about them?

Let’s start with one of the more important written apologies of the whole #MeToo movement - Louis CK's. Not because he, as a person, is more important, but because his message as a comedian had been so markedly feminist* to begin with. It should follow that he'd understand the need for a decent apology, right? Except, it was actually awful. This is what we call a “non-apology.” One where it contains all or most of the words a person would use in an apology, but in an arrangement that completely defies use as an actual apology.

The words “sorry,” “apology,” or “apologize” appear zero times in his entire statement. But, the word “admire” appears four times, three of them in the context of explaining he initially got away with his behavior because the victims “admired” him. In other words, this isn’t an apology at all. It’s a manifesto that says, “Hey, other fellas! I got away with this behavior because women admired me, so here’s how you do it!” which is obviously not an apology.

Let’s look at an apology based on everyday ignorance instead of criminal behavior. Imagine an executive of a company says something offensive in a meeting and their subordinates have the courage to call them out on it. If we’ve seen nothing else in recent years on television or Twitter, we’ve at least seen a million fumbled apologies for having said offensive things.

A real apology needs to attempt to be restorative. Apologies that de facto blame the victim for having been hurt aren't apologies because there's no attempt at restoration. That’s just blame shifting. "I'm sorry you were offended" is not the same as "I'm sorry I offended you." If you're just going to blame shift, at least be honest about it and say, "Nah, you're wrong for being offended and I’m not sorry.” By adding "I'm sorry" in front of it, you literally add insult to injury by assuming the recipient of your apology isn't smart enough to know the difference. This is you just trying to cleverly** dodge responsibility.

Here’s a real life example of a non-apology:

“I made a comment that may have been seen as insensitive to some. For that, I apologize.” Uh, thanks? Grammar matters. This person just apologized for other people finding what he said offensive. In other words, they’re at fault for finding the comment insensitive, yet he apologized for their sensitivity. That doesn’t even make sense. First, because we can’t apologize for other people’s acts unless we ordered them to do it. Second, because it comes off as being coy while blaming the hearers for being offended. It’s not an actual apology, but it is condescending to the reader to think they won’t figure it out. This individual has just offended his readers a second time.

I often hear guys saying, “Ugh, I have to be careful about everything I say now!” No, you don't have to be "careful" from now on. You need to be mindful. They're different things. Saying you need to be "careful" suggests you not only have no control over what comes out of your mouth, but that you know it’s wrong and still insist on wanting to say it anyway. If you know it’s wrong, you aren’t be careful by keeping it in. You’re being mindful of the fact you have some stuff in your head that should probably stay there. The less you let it out, the less you think of it. The less you think of it, the less risk there is of being offensive, and thus less need for apologizing.

“Watch your thoughts, they become words;

watch your words, they become actions;

watch your actions, they become habits;

watch your habits, they become character;

watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

PURPOSE: We apologize because we make mistakes and care about the relationships that suffer as a result, not because we’re bad people. Everyone makes mistakes. If you believe that apologizing for something will mean you’re a bad person, then you reinforce the behavior that caused it in the first place. Apologize because it’s the right thing to do. And mean it. “I’m sorry I did that. I said something offensive and will seek to correct this behavior in the future.” For the most part, people will still be hurt, but appreciative of your attempt to change. And, they may trust you more for having acknowledged your error.

“But what about people who don’t accept my apology?” It happens. And depending on what you’ve done, an apology may not be enough. Or maybe you didn’t phrase it exactly right for their needs. You’re not a mind-reader, but if you don’t apologize at all, you haven’t even attempted to be restorative and then your reputation is that of a callous person who doesn’t care who they hurt. Look at your phrasing. Have you taken personal responsibility and not blame-shifted? Then you’ve apologized. Is it enough? That’s not up to you. You don’t get to tell someone, “You’re not allowed to be hurt anymore!” If no amount of legitimate apology is acceptable to someone, then there are two possibilities:

What you’ve done is more egregious than an apology can account for.***

That person doesn’t want your apology.

In either case, you need to accept you’re not perfect and try to learn from it. You’ll do better next time.

Next Up: Golly, THANKS!

*His faux feminism was easier to spot for some than others. I don’t mean to suggest he was good at feminism, but he certainly found a line between toxic masculinity and actually attempting to understand the experiences of others that many male comics completely miss.

**It’s not that clever.

***Depending on the error, an apology really may not be enough. Is what you’ve done criminal? Then, you have other issues. I’m sure Louis’ non-apology, in part, avoided making certain statements because there’s a question of legality and his lawyers coached him as such. I still call bullshit, though, because if you’re actually sorry, you say it and take your punishment. Period.

[furynewsnetwork]

LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST:

By Paul Meekin

The police have always had a presence in my life that went beyond law enforcement. Our teen community center had a police officer on duty to field questions and supervise. Officers gave out free ice cream to kids who wore bike helmets. They demonstrated how bad ass their K-9 dog was, protective suit and all. They even introduced me to Scruff McGruff.

Heck, when lighting off illegal fireworks one July 4th in my backyard, an officer sauntered onto our property and simply told us to wait until after 8pm.

Fair enough, Officer.

My positive experiences are very likely because I’m white and in a suburban neighborhood. If I were black, lived in the inner city, and lit those very same fireworks, those cops might mistake them for gun shots, and in order to protect themselves, approached the situation more aggressively, resulting in a drastic change in my opinion.

For every good story I have, there are two or three with stories of abused power and due process violations. For those that agree something should be done, one of the best things police officers could do, and citizens can do, is to engage with each other outside of a strictly law enforcement capacity – it’ll humanize them both.

Thus, it was with regret I learned my home state of Massachusetts ended a program focused on Police Officers giving high fives to kids before school and interacting with them in a way that, you would think, engenders understanding and community. The Northampton Police Department’s Response is eloquent and diplomatic, as we hope all police should (and could) be.

RELATED: Police Stop Giving High Fives To Kids Because It Makes Undocumented Immigrants Uncomfortable

People of color and undocumented children (well, their parents) expressed concern about the idea of such a strong police presence at a school. I see that. Even if they’re just there to give high fives and chat and be amiable, they still have a gun. They could kill you. They could arrest you. They could have previously arrested their brother, mother, sister, best friend, or uncle – they could come to your house and deport you one day.

For all the gags about safe spaces, schools should be as safe a space as possible, and if police officers on campus make folks feel unsafe, that’s a legitimate concern and not one to be mocked. The last thing you need the day of a big test is to worry about seeing the police officer who broke down the front door of your cousin’s apartment three weeks ago.

If you’re hyper-aware of issues between white officers and black folks, it’s understandable why this program could sit poorly with you. Especially considering if these stats are true, there are zero black police officers in Northampton, and 1 Latino. 

And the burden is on the Police to make that right. People can’t help how they feel, and they react to what they see and hear, and right now what’s being seen and said isn’t great for intercultural officer relations. And this program was a small step toward trying to make it right. And it still can. It’s only a temporary halt.

I reached out to Black Lives Matter via e-mail and The Northampton Police Department. I asked Black Lives Matter their opinion on this issue, and what, if anything they’d suggest as a compromise or different program Northampton could run. I asked The Northampton Police Department if the officers were armed during these sessions (from twitter it appears they were).

So far I have not received a response from either.

What is encouraging is that this has been shockingly civil. Everyone, from the Mayor to State Senators, to the Police Chief to the Superintendent, have all said and done the right things.

That said, I have my own thoughts. Libertarians and those that lean that way preach a message of personal responsibility. It sounds nice on paper but in reality it’s hard. It’s easier to be told which insurance to have and what beliefs to hold dear, have your retirement provided by social security, and live your life believing in freedom but acquiescing to the shoulds and musts put upon you by government, social institutions, and friends and family.

It is in this belief that Northampton’s citizenry and enforcement community can find common ground. My suggestion is this: have another meeting, Northampton, suggest the high five policy continues, but un-arm your police officers. Keep them in uniform, but remove their firearm, as a symbolic offering – as if to say these officers are on campus not as enforcement officials, not as the fuzz, not as the 5-0, but as people with a professional responsibility to the community to keep it safe – and more importantly, to have that community feel safe with them on the job.

Also bring donuts.

This program may not change minds, it may not even keep kids from engaging in crime, but at the least, on some small scale, on both sides, it will appear people are trying, because they are.

That’s worth a high five if you ask me.

EDITOR’s NOTE: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, they are not representative of The Libertarian Republic or its sponsors.

WATCH TLR’S LATEST VIDEO:

  The post High Fiving The 5-0 in Northampton: A Compromise appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

via Headline News – The Libertarian Republic