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annetteblog · 4 years

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Intro & My take on KM

Hi!

I’m new around here so it’s supposed to be (not so short) introduction, since I don’t know how to start a blog heh. I hope to sprinkle my 0.5 cents into the KM conversation and maybe to bring a new perspective from someone, who is not a part of the typical English-speaking West.

Who /the hell/ Am I?

(please, consider it to be said with NJ’s voice from Intro: Persona :D)

I was born in Siberia (it’s in the Asian part of Russia), currently live in the European part of the country while studying at a Uni (European in terms of geography, not in terms of everything else i’m definitely not shading rn lolllll). English is not my first language, I’ve just kind of learnt it to some extent. Due to this it takes me more time to write a post; and I may (and will) make some grammatical & other mistakes. Plus I’m lazy AND busy with Uni, so I won’t even promise to be consistent in posting smth lol. But I thought I need more practice in terms of writing in English, so here I am, actually scribbling something. This feels weird, because I’ve been around stan Tumblr since 2015, but never ever interacted, just read.

How I ended up around Jikook/Kookmin (and BTS) & My (long&messy) take on this matter

Although I had heard of BTS before, I became an Army only in October 2018. I had kinda avoided them, because you know... boybands.... sing songs about romantic love and how they love girls.......... (+I had been around Twitter when 1D been at their peak and I remember a quite toxic community of fans, whom always had scared me). Shortly, hello stereotypes. Obviously, after I got engaged I felt terribly sorry that I had been sleeping on them, but what is done cannot be undone.

Someone I knew back then reposted one of their MVs and I, during my sad hours of procrastination, decided to watch it. Then I saw their live performance with the same song. And I thought “wow these guys can sing and dance and the music is kinda cool, i need to check this out maybe??”

Then a funny thing happened. One of the next videos I watched (the same person had it added to their page) was a 2016 BangtanBomb where JM and JK practiced their Coming of Age dance.

Do you know this moment with Gina from the 1st episode of Brooklyn 9-9:

Well, that was precisely me after I watched it. I don’t even know how to explain this, it was kind of a gut feeling? Whatever you call it, I started to get suspicious and couldn’t even explain to myself why. /actually now a do have questions to this vid and the main one - why does everyone cringe that much? if it’s a girly choreo than they had done some “girly” moves before. why is there such strong reaction??/

I started to get deeper and went to some ru-shipper communities. Shipping culture among Russian speaking fans is... well, weird to some extent, but I maybe address this topic some time later. You need to consider that (as far as you probably know) Russia is quite homophonic country and sadly is not the greatest place for LGBTQ+ community at the moment. The non-frienly influential attitudes hanging in the society + the general shippers’ weirdness = the result is not that nice honestly.

I struggled for some time in order to find more mature people (not just in terms of age but in general sanity), failed, ended up with some EXTREMELY toxic ru-fans of TK, which was/is the most popular pairing here, spent among them like 15 minutes and ran away horrified. After that I didn’t even try to engage with shippers or believers or whatever of any pair and just decided to enjoy the music and the content (which is a great idea, highly recommend!)

After a couple of days I discovered that JK makes videos. I love video, films and visual art so I immediately found them on YT, saw the titles with names of different cities from all over the world and was like “Oh that must be so cool, he’s visited so many outstanding places I’ve never been to, so I really need to watch it! I shall enjoy some beautyyy”. Then I clicked on GCFt.

Well, what can I say. I did enjoy some beauty, but not the type I had initially anticipated. The biggest clickbait in my entire life. JK should be proud of himself.

/as I said - the beauty/

I had already known Troy back then and I known the song’s lyrics so it would not be an underestimation to say - the video just blew my mind. I was like - hold on is this real? seriously?? no really really????? he manage to get away with something THAT obvious?????? dude how

As a person who edited videos AND is not a native English speaker, I don’t buy the explanation “oh he mustve didnt get the lyrics lmao”. You just don’t do that. You don’t. DON’T. You google and translate every shit you don’t understand, every word and idiom you’ve never encountered, because otherwise the possibility of an epic failure is very likely. You wouldn’t want to give your mum a video as a birthday present and then discover that you used a song with WAP-ish lyrics, right? (well maybe that would be okay in your family, I don’t judge, but that’s not the case for people I know). So don’t you dare to degrade JK’s intellectual capacities; such assumption is really offensive. He is a smart boii, he knows exactly what he’s doing in terms of his art.

So I was shocked, but decided to look for the context - maybe I missed some previous events regarding this Tokyo thing (another great idea - always check the context). Well, apparently I didn’t, because the whole narrative with the trip for two, lovely selfies etc. made my poor brain lowkey explode. (I still don’t buy the rings theory thing though)

But I didn’t give up lol! I’m a bit stubborn and it’s very hard to convince me in anything, so I decided to search for more context, more of their interactions, moreeee. Remember, the late October 2018, there were no swan lakes, RB, and even MMA18 hadn’t happened yet.

This time I ended up watching content in more or less consistent way, and when I saw all of these scenes with affectionate JM and a cool badass i-don’t-care-about-anyone-i’m-a-manly-man-with-no-feelings-whatsoever JK, I just hysterically laughed.

Homophobic Russia, remember? I recognized this. Growing up here being LGBT myself, taught me the same type behaviour during my high school days. When a girl I kinda liked but didn’t what to admit it to myself was nice to me or (oh god) flirted with me, I did something similar. It’s like a huge panic mode. Being an introvert doesn’t help either. The funniest thing is that you may not entirely realise what exactly is going on in terms of your own feelings, especially at that age (16-18ish). In my personal case, I thought I liked her but as a friend, only later to realise that well not as a friend oops :DDD The second thing (already not so funny) is that you actually consciously or unconsciously try to avoid the subject as much as possible, as long as possible and pretend that nothing is going on. We’re just bros. Stop doing this stupid gayish thing and don’t look at me like that, you’re annoying. If you ever do this again I (gently) kick you. I’m straighter than a straight line in my math textbook. IDK, but probably that’s your brain is somehow trying to protect you. Again, in my case&position I knew that the consequences for any non-straight person being outed would be bad (TW not to the point of being killed bad, but to the point of being excluded from a big part of society). So for me it was a mixture of the internalized homophobia + lack of self reflection + just being a bit emotionally slow + very! straight community around. Shit happens, I was a teenager and made my share of mistakes, but that experience helps me to recognize the same pattern of behaviour up to this day.

So coming back to KM, because the post is already waaay too long and I just ramble. It’s been 2+ years for me being a part of this fandom, and what can I say... Things become more intense and eventful with every year passing by ;) Funny how I felt that vibe from the 2016 dance practice video. Seeing the Black Swan performance a week ago almost had me choked, no joking. They are amazing.

Pure Art

However, and I would like to emphasize that, I do not incline that KM are 100% romantically involved and/or gay or whatever. I tend to treat people with respect and not to make too much assumptions about their private life. That’s not my business. However, I’m also not a fan of heteronormativity, so I’m just sitting here and observe everything that’s going on putting some distance and not forgetting being generally polite and critical thinking. But if they are just straightest besties please give them an Oscar before Grammy

Anyways, I hope this blog won’t kick the bucket from the very start and I will post something every now and then. You can always ask me questions about some BTS/Jikook related stuff or something about Russia and a Russian view on mass culture topics, since I’m pretty sure some of you have very stereotypical view of what is going on here :) However, do note that I’ve never been to America or Europe, therefore I may not be aware of something verrrry obvious to you or just have a completely different experience.

P.S. And yeah, I’m used to say Jikook, since it’s the name which is used much more frequently in Russian. i like it better and what will u do haha

#jikook #kookmin #what am i even doing here #i'm gonna regret this #long post

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marshmallowprotection · 4 years

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Inspired by the song "Flower of The Plateau" by Mothy, this story thats part of Ever Changing Fate (my story) doesn't have much of a connection to the main plot of ECF but I made it to flesh it out more and because why not.

You might have to zoom in on the picture to be able to read it- sorry oof.

Cast:

Oliver's full name is "Oliver Bortè".

"Chrysana" is not actually Chrysana's real name. Her real name is "Zaria Bortè". Her current full name is " Chrysana Orlov".

Marilla's full name as you would guess is "Marilla Orlov".

The Tsardom of Rinael is inspired by Russia. In case you didn't already know since I've mentioned Parie before, Parie is literally just a play on "Paris" and is insird by France. I'm pretty sure I've said that before but just mentioning for anyone else who read this.

Thus:

Chrysana is basically a French woman except France is in the southeast area of the planet and she abandoned her son and left him for dead before fleeing to Russia except it's in the northwestern area of the planet. She traveled very far away for a reason: it's so far out it would be impossible (so she thought) for anyone to find out who she really was.

Harlots (aka prostitutes for any who didn't know) are heavily discriminated against in Ever Changing Fate due to being seen as sinful even though most of them are only harlots because they need money, such as Chrysana. Chrysana ended up pregnant after being "without her consent used in a vulgar way", which is code for "being RP'd". She was heavily scarred and saw her son as a burning reminder of her experience. She never loved him but upon his birth she thought she could get used to him. But she soon realized that having a son was not very profitable because she couldn't afford to feed both herself and him, and the men she brought in didn't like having a kid around. Babies were too much work in her eyes at the time, and so she abandoned him and chose to completely erase her old identity as the harlot Zaria Bortè, and took on a new identity. In the years after she married the head of House Orlov in Rinael after fleeing there as a stowaway on a ship and had a daughter. But she nevr anticipated her son searching for her...

And so she had to maintain her new identity...

And that mean that anyone who knew of her past must be-

Since you read the text in the above picture, you kno what happened...

"The poor Oliver was found dead"

For your information Marilla was completely oblivious to Oliver being her older brother and her mother not being who she pretended to be, along with Duke Orlov who was also oblivious to everything.

Chrysana faked her entire personality as "Chrysana Orlov" when in reality her true self as "Zaria Bortè" was a cynical, scarred woman who hated the world, and was nearly unapproachable. Due to this in order to survive Chrysana knew she had to forge a new personality for herself which was joyful, social, happy, etc, and thus is why she became known as the "Joy of Rinael" due to the fact Rinael was constantly a gloomy land of snow, so someone who was optimistic and happy was sort of just foreign to them.

Other facts:

Chrysana was an orphan. She had been homeless her entire life until she fled to Rinael. She had found and decided to live in an abandoned house that she had fixed up herself and lit up with candles a few years before Oliver was born, when she was 14.

Yes, Chrysana had been a harlot even before she was of age; she became one when she was 12. "It was all to survive" is what she told herself even though she hated everything, her life, the men, the world...

Chrysana was 19 when she had Oliver.

Oliver is aproximately 6 years older than Marilla.

Marilla actually really wanted a sibling and would have loved having Oliver as her older brother. She got a baby sister a year after Oliver's death and a baby brother another two years after that.

Chrysana and Marilla's appearance is somewhat inspired by Hatsune Miku, mostly Marilla with her pigtails and hair color.

The rose on the headband that Chrysana is wearing is a black rose.

Chrysana's birth name and fake name are both flower names; Chrysana comes from Chrysanthemum and Zaria either is a flower or means flower in some other language, I forget. Marilla is another name for the flower Amaryllis.

Orlov was a noble family in the Russian Empire way back.

Vasily is a common Russian name, I believe.

Duke Vasily Orlov had strawberry blonde hair and purple eyes. He was younger than Chrysana by two years and had loved her nearly ever since she had moved to Rinael. Considering he was was 19 when she moved to Rinael, his teenage hormones were still all over the place and genuinely his crush on her was a childish one at first.

Chrysana despises intercourse nowadays but does it anyway to keep up her farce and to satisfy Vasily.

Chrysana genuinely loves Vasily but the relationship can be strained because of her trauma, fake identity, and fake personality.

Chrysana murdered several other men who happened to be people she slept with years earlier if she saw them whether she was in Rinael or visiting somehwere else because she wants to annihilate all record of her past.

By the time she died Chrysana had murdered about half of the men she slept with in the past.

Chrysana lived in the 1200s T.C., 350~ years before the Second Great Theda Civil War and main plot of Ever Changing Fate.

Chrysana's descendants (specifically Marilla's line) eventually married into the royal family of Rinael and several of the members of the royal family ended up bearing her hair color and or eye color due to it being very dominant throughout her bloodline.

If anyone found out she had been a harlot many years later there would be a bit of a scandal about it in the royal family, how big it would be would depend on how far down the line her descendants are at whenever it was discovered. However, her being a harlot was never found out by anyone.

One of the greatest rulers of Rinael bore both Chrysana's hair and eye color. He lived in the 1400s.

Chrysana became a writer later in her life (Around her mid 40s) and wrote a story that was actually based on her past identity. She wrote it in order to get out everything that she had pent up inside of her. She lied to everyone whenever asked that the entire story was fictitious and was based on many stories with several elements pulled from other stories to make it. It was called "The Tragedy of The Harlot Catria". Catria was the name of Chrysana's mother who was also a harlot according to the records Chrysana managed to find about her. She of course claimed that the records she looked at of Catria were just for her story- in reality Chrysana just desperately wished to know anything about her that she could because she never met her since her mother died in childbirth.

Chrysana knew her mother's name because of a locket that she had held onto since she could remember which had the inscription "Love from mama, Catria, to her lovely daughter, Zaria".

Chrysana's mother was a victim of RP just like Chrysana.

Chrysana's eye color is from her mother, her hair is from her father.

Chrysana met her father once and promptly beat him up for everything he did to her mother and never carung about her. However, he didn't know she was his daughter and she didn't kill him because he was a nobleman of Parie and it would have ended badly for Rinael because it could have caused rumors about him being killed by a Rinaelian nobleman/woman or she could have gotten found out.

Rinael and Parie don't like each other very much. :/

I personally like that you've been building on the character designs because it's really starting to come together in a really beautiful kind of way. The way that you're able to draw hair and the way that the environment affects it is just really telling of the characters in a lot more ways than you realize. It stands out more than just color theory in general.

Posture is one thing but you can see a lot just from the way that someone Styles themselves and just by looking at these characters you can tell that they have this specific energy to them. It's not standoffish. But it's definitely something in the realm of uneasy and uncertain.

I just want to say that these guys have been going through so much and their universe that it is kind of tedious. Can everyone in this room just get along for 5 minutes to have a group hug or something?

#mod kait #ask #littleghostlyrose #not mm #oc

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alexanderpusheen · 4 years

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what frustrates me the most abt this china narrative is that the US created al qaeda and ISIS, those groups are recruiting and causing terrorism in xinjiang, china has been trying to handle the situation with re-education programs often suggested by westerners, and its still being treated as this major human rights violation. there are actually dozens of countries with several robust anti radicalization programs that are just as strict, like singapore, colombia, yemen, bangladesh, saudi arabia, and indonesia. this paper ive linked to was even funded by the DHS so like...why has detaining someone and basically reverse brainwashing them out of being a terrorist been so acceptable for so long but now its an issue?

if you take issue with chinas program, you have to prove its somehow exceptional to these other programs. since we really dont have any way of knowing what is truth or reality thanks to the enormous disinformation campaign going on, you fucking cant. we dont even know what the programs entail because even googling it gets you exclusively hyperbolic concentration camp accusations.

what i will say is that relations between the han majority and the uyghur minority have been strained since at least the 80s. link is the notoriously conservative and pro US intervention human rights watch, so dont say im using pro commie sources or anything. every time i do any bit of research on this i seem to find an attempt from major news outlets in the early to mid 2000s or late 20-teens to prove this all started or became dramatically worse now, but things have always been tense. and its not really a surprise that things really got bad after the collapse of the soviet union, an event that was geographically close to china and the xinjiang region and also just like, a fucking major global event in general.

what i find to be very odd is just how dramatically the narrative has changed. the diplomat, one of my favorite periodicals, went from taking very nuanced and balanced positions on xinjiang that i almost completely agreed with to being just as aggressive as outlets like the BBC and CNN in the span of five years. they have eleven pages worth of articles on xinjiang, mostly covering the terrorism and beijings response (which i agree is too harsh) and xinjiang muslims’ relationships to the greater muslim world.

an example is how this article talks about the conflict at the time which warns of escalating violence as a result of han chauvinism and beijing being unable to deal with the extremism holistically. it points out how there were uyghurs captured among taliban ranks in afghanistan and how many might have even been working with ISIL.

The threat will not be an existential one to the Chinese state, as most Uighurs would prefer a peaceful accommodation. But even if only 1 percent of Uighurs hold extreme views, there are 10 million in Xinjiang and even for a state security apparatus as formidable as China’s, 100,000 or more angry people present a tough challenge.

i think its totally right that china does not allow people in that area to have cars, woodcutting tools, and amonium nitrate (which is used in bombs) is very strictly regulated. i completely agree that this is not how you combat terrorism. most people do not want war and broadly punishing these people is itself a human rights violation that went unnoticed until now.

however, in that same year, the diplomat also published this article about the infamous turkestan islamic party. members of TIP are like, literal jihadists lmfao.

TIP fighters call on the world’s Muslims to join the jihad against Western countries in internet videos. Perhaps most worringly for China, the TIP believes that Muslims may fight locally using various means instead of coming to Syria and Iraq to conduct a “holy war” against the “infidel” Western regimes.

yeah i definitely want to hear more about what these guys have to say. the article is really good because i think it highly illustrates just how dangerous these people are. theyve killed hundreds of people across china and want to establish a fascist religious state in xinjiang. while the article speaks for itself, i believe the last paragraph really highlights why china is being singled out whereas countries like france and canada are considered allies to muslims for whatever reason:

However, as experience has shown, China takes a passive position in the struggle against global Islamic jihad in Syria and Iraq. Beijing has not sent its troops to the Middle East to fight ISIS and has instead confined itself to diplomatic support for Russia and the United States. The Chinese government uses the attacks of Islamic jihadists to persuade Western countries to support Beijing’s position on Xinjiang and turn a blind eye when the freedom and rights of Uyghurs are harshly suppressed by Chinese security forces. Therefore, China is not perceived by the West as a reliable partner in the fight against terrorism. [emphasis mine]

im just a little surprised to see that a lot of these violent attacks from extremists throughout the years have targeted not just han chinese but also other uyghurs. in the west people do not typically sympathize with terrorists as freedom fighters, even on the left, because we know that no matter how angry or how seemingly justified the violence might seem, terrorism is unacceptable and it grossly misrepresents islam. it is a fascist act because those terrorists often follow an extremely right wing version of islam. also, we know that those who carry out terrorist attacks even outside of the west are middle class and professionals in some way, not poor and marginalized people. the level of nuance afforded to terrorists outside of xinjiang is pretty staggering.

yet in china, there seems to be this excitement than they are killing chinese people, even if some of those chinese are other uyghers or otherwise muslims. those who carry out attacks in xinjiang dont get any nuance or analysis because theyre justified.

ive referenced the diplomat earlier but this article from 2013 says it perfectly: Call Tiananmen Attack What It Was: Terrorism. except terrorism is bad. and the west wants you to support the uyghurs. and make no mistake, they do not want you to support the millions of uyghurs who want to live peacefully, free of any repression, american or chinese. they want you to support the jihadists randomly blowing up chinese and tourists alike because you are meant to sympathize with their plight.

terrorism isnt something to be romantacized or cheered on. it is something someone or someones do when they feel they have no other option. people do not want to kill even those they feel they have every right to because thats a line you cant uncross. murder changes you, justified or not. see the last chapter of wretched of the earth for this.

terrorism is great, however, for destabilizing a region or a country, and xinjiang is resource-rich. establishing a US-friendly regime, no matter how good they are on human rights, is the goal. the US does not care about muslims. they do not care about human rights. china, also, does not really seem to care about muslims or human rights either. but we’ve seen this since vietnam, and the US has learned since vietnam. the vietnamese were sympathetic. they were minding their business.

after vietnam, merely being communist isnt enough to warrant invasion. theyre killing their own people. nevermind that bolsonaro kills his own people and no one wants to invade (yet--biden has mention sanctions wrt us which is scary but again, thats got everything to do with making sure latin america is loyal to the west, not HR offenses). korea, although it was before vietnam, was less publicized and learning from vietnam gave the US a valuable lesson: always blame the victim. and thus, the US blames the victims of its violence. even if its ‘justified’, even if its ‘true,’ as was the case with saddam hussein, invading and occupying was the nightmare no one but the imperialists anticipated. because they dont broadcast what occupying forces do to the occupied. i am old enough to remember abu ghraib. have it seared in my memory forever. you perhaps are also old enough to remember, but also think millions of abu ghraibs and guantanamo bays are always worth it, always justified.

i know people arent going to read this and remind me really rudely that they didnt read it but i want to really emphasize how one of imperialism and colonialisms features is ethnic and racial separatism. how the rwandan genocide couldnt have happened without previous belgian and french rule. how yugoslavia wouldve remained a single country had it not been for NATO. i think its easy to diminish the role of the colonizer in all of this, but it is actually one of its goals: divide and conquer. exacerbate the existing conflicts to the point of genocide.

and if the west succeeds in balkanizing china, you will get more racism rather than less. you will see more violence against muslim minorities rather than less. they will feel less empowered rather than more. china has to learn that they are also to blame in a way that will be catastrophic for over a billion people. han chauvinism and outright racism must be addressed beyond window dressing.

wrapping up, china is in the wrong here. what theyre doing is racist and humiliating a population that has to be empowered. and the one child rule, even for the han majority, is imo fucking evil lol like sorry tankie tumblr im tankie too but i cannot for the life of me accept that as a good thing.... but i also dont buy the accusations of genocide, because even tho a lot of these articles are kind of glossing over it, china is trying to handle the terrorism in the region. imo theyre feeding into it by getting more han in the area, but also having more han but forcing them to take worse jobs would be a show of good will. idk, this situation is extremely complex and frankly, most uyghers do not want secession.

i also take extreme issue with people saying that adrian zenz is somehow reliable. not only is he a nazi crackpot, hes also literally the only source for almost all of what we know about this in the west. that is not how you do journalism. i dont understand how people are saying ‘yeah hes an extremely fascist grifter but also i believe him because hes anti communist and also anti china’. thats also not really the point? the point is that hes also the ONLY SOURCE on almost all of this, which is alarming.

i also find it very startling that in order to keep interest in the story, every few weeks the US has to remind people that the chinese are also doing what the US is doing to women in its own camps. forget that the US is separating minors from parents (since 2008). forget that the US is sterilizing women en masse (since 2017). forget that the US is raping women at the border (since there was a border). forget the US even has camps because now they arent even called that anymore. this is not that ‘you can be angry at two things at once’ but a clearly cynical attempt to get its citizens to forget that the US is detaining, deporting, sterilizing, and raping, and gassing non US nationals.

they are not ‘your own people.’ they are me. the other. i am an immigrant to the US, currently in my country of birth, so i am the other to you, the american. the chinese are doing the evil crime of killing their own. but the americans could never kill their own because they dont consider black americans to be their own. latin american nationals are not their own. bombing millions globally is not their own. thats always justifiable. there is clearly an element of racism in how these crimes are perceived as more or less evil.

the way immigrants and black americans are brutalized in the US is almost naturalized. like its the way things are supposed to be. you can live with that. its upsetting that you have to hear about antiblackness and the like but you know thats just how life is. you dont necessarily call for the US to be sanctioned or bombed by other countries because you believe in the inherent goodness of white america. but countries like china and iran and north korea deserve to be starved and killed for their crimes. and you can never say ‘maybe bombing and starving a country isnt the answer’ because it means you agree with it. you can never say ‘this is clearly propaganda to make me hate another race so much’ because it means youre a genocide denier. im sorry, but again, i remember iraq in 2003, i remember libya in 2011. i dont buy it.

finally, theres been a lot of attacks on asian people in the US lately and if you cannot see the violent way the US talks about china the country and how that influences people to harm asians within the US then idk what else to tell you. people will really believe this shit and say the chinese are all blood thirsty islamaphobes and thus need to be harmed. ‘im not like that! i defend my asian friends from racism!’ thats nice and all but idk how spreading some sinophobic propaganda designed by the US to make you support some kind of violence against one billion chinese people isnt inherently racist. also its unhelpful because sanctions dont really solve problems. but ive spoken too much.

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mistrose23 · 5 years

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Part 1

DISCLAIMER: This is just an idea for a friend of mine, she wanted a Tony x reader x John smut. I know that Tony and John are not in the same universe, so this is just a fantasy.

SUMMARY: Y/N works with the Avengers when she gets an assignment to find an artifact for them. While searching for the item, she meets John Wick. She is in a friend with benefits relationship with Tony Stark, but what happens when she gets close with John?

WARNINGS: Smut, age gap, language, dom/sub, rough sex, sex toys, BDSM, choking, etc. 18+ ONLY

WORD COUNT: 5554

Part 1 | part 2 |

It was a rainy Tuesday evening when Y/N was working in her lab on her latest project. A cup of tea waited for her on her left, while light piano music could be heard in the background. For a couple of months, she was tracking an artefact for the Avengers. Before she got this project, she was already working with the Avengers. Steve Rogers and Tony Stark wanted her on this job, because Y/N was specialized in mystical objects and artefacts. What they didn’t know, was that Y/N wanted to lead this specific project badly and that she had planted that idea in their heads. Why? The artefact in question is a long-lost family heirloom of hers.

Long before Y/N was born, the heirloom was stolen from their family by the Russian mob. Many family members have tried to get the object back again, but all had failed. It became some sort of a family business to search and find the family heirloom. Y/N heard many stories while growing up from her family about the family piece, so it wasn’t a surprise when Y/N started to get obsessed with it too. That’s why her parents trained her and send her to special classes. Just like any other teenager she went to high school and university. After she graduated and when she started doing field research about the heirloom, an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D. came in contact with her. Y/N found an item by accident that S.H.I.E.L.D. was looking for. They were impressed by her skills and they offered her a training program at S.H.I.E.L.D. At first, Y/N was hesitant about joining forces with the organization, but they told her that when she will complete the training program, that she can lead projects with the best people and with all the resources that she needs. With her family heirloom in her mind, she agreed.

They taught her everything she needed to know. Fighting, weaponry, languages and decoding. She passed every exam without question. In the beginning, she got little tasks within S.H.I.E.L.D. and she managed teams. That was until she got assigned to help the Avengers. Her first assignment with them was to locate Loki’s Scepter. Ever since that mission, the Avengers were fond of her and they wanted Y/N in their team. She became part of the team and not only as someone who searched for mystical objects, but also as a spy like Natasha and Clint.

It has been three years since S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited her and it has been a year since she started working with the Avengers. Tony gave her, her own lab in the Avengers Tower, because especially he was fond of the young woman. Y/N felt the same way and eventually the pair started a friends with benefits relationship.

A soft knock brought Y/N back from her thoughts. She turned her head and she saw Bruce Banner standing next to the door.

‘Hey, Bruce,’ Y/N greeted him with a soft smile.

‘Y/N,’ Bruce said, and he stepped inside. ‘Are you still working?’

The young woman nodded. ‘Yeah, I think I’m close to a breakthrough with the ring.’

‘Really?’ he asked interested and he took a seat next to her.

She nodded again and pointed to one of the screens in front of her. ‘When I started this project, I always thought that the object would be in Russia, because the Russian mob stole it. But recently I saw it pop-up on multiple collectors’ websites. So, I think that it will at an exhibition soon.’

Bruce watched me intensely. ‘How do you know so much about it?’

Y/N shrugged. ‘I tried to track it in the past, but without success. It always intrigued me. I was really happy when Tony came to me with this project. Because in the past it was all me, but now I have a team and resources that can help me.’

Bruce smiles softly. ‘It’s nice seeing you talking so passionate about your job.’

‘You do the same,’ Y/N told him with a smirk. ‘By the way, do you know why you guys want this artifact so badly?’

‘Yeah,’ Bruce chuckled. ‘Apparently the value of it is really high. And the ring contains something within... an elixir.’

‘What kind of an elixir?’ Y/N asked, even though she knew what the ring contained.

‘We are not sure,’ Bruce admitted. ‘We heard rumors that it contains an Elixir of Life. Others say it’s an elixir similar to the super soldier serum.’

‘So, either it’s similar to Steve’s serum or it’s like a potion for immortality?’ Y/N asked.

Bruce nodded. ‘That’s why we need it and lock it up. The elixir can be catastrophic in the wrong hands.’

Oh, if they only knew. That’s not why her family wanted it back so badly. ‘Yeah, I understand. I’m still running a view tests, but I really think I’m close.’

The scientist smiled. ‘I’m glad, Y/N. I’m really happy that you’re helping us, you’re a great asset to our team.’

Y/N blushed. ‘Thank you, Bruce.’

He stood up and walked towards the door. ‘If you need anything, please ask us.’

‘I will, thanks,’ Y/N nodded.

Bruce left the room and she was alone again. The ring didn’t contain an elixir or a serum. That was just a fairytale an enemy of the family made up. The ring actually contains a cure for a disease... a disease that kills all the females from the Y/L/N bloodline. It was genetic. Y/N her grandmother and aunts died from this disease, just like her other female predecessors. Now, her mother was sick, and she needed this cure. It was common that when the women in the Y/L/N family reached the age of 35, that the disease would be triggered. The women could mostly live with the disease for five years. Y/N her mother discovered that she was sick two years ago, so she really needed that cure. Y/N made it her life mission and that’s why she wanted the cure.

She sighed and watched the screen in anticipation, but nothing happened. The only think she could see was that her computer was running tests. She sighed and drunk her tea. Y/N kept looking at the screen, but eventually she drifted off.

The next morning, she woke up because of a beeping sound. Slowly Y/N opened her eyes and the first thing that she noticed was that someone had put a blanket around her body. The second thing that she noticed was that her screens lit up with an exclamation mark. The sound was also coming from there. Y/N threw the blanket away and she pressed the space bar. An article from an exhibition popped up, together with some websites. Her eyes immediately searched for a date and a location. She knew this was it. This was her family ring and it would be displayed at the exhibition. Within a couple of minutes Y/N discovered the details. She picked up her tablet and ran to the living quarters of the Tower. The Avengers had to know about this.

‘F.R.I.D.AY., are they awake yet?’ Y/N asked the AI.

‘Yes, miss Y/N,’ F.R.I.D.A.Y. answered. ‘Currently, they are in the kitchen.’

Y/N rushed to the elevator and she hit the button to go to the top floor of the Tower, where the living quarters were. Impatiently, she stood in the elevator. She was so excited to share the news with them, she finally had a break through. When the door opened, she ran out of the elevator.

‘Guys!’ Y/N shrieked. ‘I have news!’

All heads turned to her. Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Wanda Maximoff were sitting at the dining table and they were still eating breakfast. Natasha Romanoff sat on the kitchen counter while drinking some coffee. Clint Barton was rummaging through the fridge and Bruce was making his breakfast.

‘Good morning, Y/N,’ Tony greeted her with a smirk. ‘I’m great, thanks for asking. How are you?’

Y/N rolled her eyes, but she grinned softly. ‘Yeah, yeah, good morning. I have news about the ring!’

Steve lowered his cup and looked at the girl. ‘You have?’

‘Yes!’ Y/N said full excitement and she eyed Bruce. ‘I was right yesterday. The artifact is going to be displayed during an exhibition.’

She opened the tablet and she pressed a couple of buttons, so that the tablet could project everything that she could see in the air. Y/N showed them the article and the websites.

Tony took a step closer and read everything carefully. Bruce, Steve and Natasha did the same.

‘Great work, Y/N,’ Steve complimented Y/N and she nodded at him thankfully.

‘Did you see that the exhibition is tonight?’ Wanda commented.

‘Yeah, but that’s okay,’ Y/N said, and she shrugged. ‘We can go there, it’s in New York.’

‘Erm, Y/N,’ Bruce said. ‘It’s a private exhibition. Only invitees can go.’

‘What?’ Y/N stammered, and she re-read the article. Bruce was right, it was written in the last paragraph.

‘It’s not a problem,’ Natasha scoffed. ‘We can crash it.’

‘Nat, no,’ Steve mumbled. ‘We can not just do that.’

‘Yes, we can,’ Clint said, and he and Natasha started to argue with Steve.

Y/N wasn’t paying attention, she was watching Tony. He was very quiet, and he kept eying his phone.

‘Tony, you’re unusually quiet,’ Y/N said. ‘What do you think?’

He looked at her and smirked. ‘Don’t worry, sweetheart, I got us covered.’

Everyone looked at him confused. What was he talking about?

‘Tony, what do you mean?’ Bruce asked.

Tony eyed Y/N. ‘We are going to the exhibition tonight, sweetie.’

‘How?’ Y/N asked him.

‘Hello,’ Tony laughed. ‘Are you forgetting that I own Stark Industries? People want me there and you’re my plus one.’

‘Do you need back-up?’ Wanda asked.

‘They can handle it,’ Steve said with a nod. ‘But Clint and Natasha will go to the venue to keep an eye out for them.’

Both assassins nodded.

Wanda gave Y/N a cup of coffee and Y/N sat down at the table, next to Tony.

‘What is the plan?’ Bruce asked. ‘Are they going to steal it immediately or are they just going to observe?’

‘Observe,’ Steve said, while Y/N said: ‘Steal it.’

They watched each other.

‘We don’t know what we’re dealing with, Y/N,’ Steve mumbled. ‘We have to be careful.’

Y/N rolled her eyes. ‘I have been looking for this ring for three years already, Steve. Tony and I can do this.’

‘Y/N,’ Tony muttered. ‘Steve is right, we don’t know anything. We have to observe first.’

Y/N looked at Natasha questionably, but Natasha shook her head as a warning. ‘Fine. We will observe first.’

After dinner, Y/N started to get herself ready. She put on some make-up and she styled her hair in a propriate way, because the exhibition would be a chic gathering. It was when she opened her wardrobe, that she came to the conclusion that she didn’t have a fancy dress. She scolded at herself and called F.R.I.D.A.Y. and she asked it she could connect her with Tony. Of course, F.R.I.D.A.Y. complied.

‘Yes, sweetheart?’ she heard Tony’s voice in her room.

‘Tony, I just concluded that I don’t have a dress for tonight,’ Y/N confessed. ‘I feel so stupid.’

‘Don’t,’ Tony said. ‘Make yourself ready and I will be at yours in five minutes.’

He ended the connection and Y/N huffed. But Tony kept his word. He stood inside her room within five minutes and he was holding a beautiful emerald green dress in his hands.

‘Try this,’ he said, and he gave it to her. He took a seat on her bed and he watched her change.

The dress was knee length and it fitted her perfectly. When she looked at Tony, she could see in his eyes that he agreed.

‘How do I look?’ Y/N asked, just to get a reaction from him.

‘Breathtaking,’ Tony whispered. ‘Let’s go, I can’t wait any longer.’

After a fifteen-minute drive, Tony and Y/N arrived at the venue. Both got escorted inside and they were provided with champagne. It was already crowded, but the pair didn’t care. The whole hall was filled with showcases with jewelry and other precious items.

‘Maybe we should split up,’ Y/N suggested. ‘There are so many objects.’

Tony squinted his eyes but nodded. ‘All right, but we will meet again in half an hour at the bathroom.’

Y/N agreed, and she left Tony. He took one side of the hall and she took the other side. Most of the showcases were filled with coins or antique tableware. That was until her eyes fell on a showcase in a corner of the hall. The light was bad, and nobody was there, except for one guard and one other man. Slowly she made her way to the corner. The guard kept his eyes on the man and her, while the man was eyeing the ring. Y/N bumped into the man on purpose, but she played it off like it was an accident.

‘Oh, sir, I’m so sorry,’ Y/N apologized quickly. ‘I stumbled, stupid heels. Are you okay?’

The man chuckled. He had long black hair, a beard and dark eyes. ‘It’s fine, miss. I was just admiring this ring.’

Y/N took a step closer and she studied the ring. Yes, this was the ring she was looking for. ‘It’s really beautiful. A shame that will be locked up in this museum.’

‘I agree,’ the man confirmed. ‘The history of the ring is also interesting.’

‘Really?’ Y/N asked fake-interested. ‘Do you want to share that information?’

The man laughed. ‘Sure. Rumor has is that the ring contains an elixir inside. Some say it’s an elixir for immortality.’

‘The Elixir of Life,’ Y/N hummed.

The man looked at her. ‘You are familiar with it.’

Y/N winked. ‘Maybe I am. Are you a collector?’

The man chuckled and he held out his hand. ‘No, not even close. My name is John Wick by the way.’

Y/N accepted his hand. ‘Y/N Y/L/N. Are you here with someone?’

John shook his head and he chuckled again. ‘You ask a lot of questions, darling. No, I’m on my own here. And you?’

‘I’m sorry,’ she said and laughed. ‘Yeah, I’m the plus one of Tony Stark.’

John raised his eyebrows. ‘Tony Stark, huh? Are you a couple?’

Y/N smirked. ‘And you said that I asked a lot of questions. No, I’m single. I’m here for business with Tony.’

He looked relieved and nodded. ‘I’m also here for business. Meeting new people and maintaining relationships. And pleasing the boss of course.’

From behind John, Y/N could see Tony watching her from across the hall. She grinned and she decided to play a game with him. A little teasing wouldn’t hurt, right?

Y/N placed her hand on John his bicep and squeezed it a bit. ‘As fun it was talking to you, I have to please my boss now. I hope that we can stay in contact.’

‘I agree with you, darling,’ John said with a smile and he reached for something inside his jacket. ‘Maybe we can go for a drink soon.’

‘I would love that,’ Y/N smiled, and she took the business card that John was holding out to her. ‘I will text you.’ After she said that, she kissed the man his cheek while making eye contact with Tony.

She let go of him and walked away without stealing another glance at the mystery man. John was looking after her with hungry eyes and he groaned when she swayed her hips. Tony on the other hand was seething. How dared Y/N flirting with another man while he was present in the same room as her. The disrespect.

Y/N reached Tony and she put her hand on his chest. ‘I found it, Tony. How do you want to do it?’

He didn’t say anything to her, he only watched her sternly. Tony grabbed her arm and he dragged her towards the nearest hallway.

‘Tony, what are you doing?’ Y/N asked with a laugh.

He still didn’t respond. The hallway he dragged her in was empty and private. At the end of it was a part where it was secluded. He took her there and he pushed her against the wall forcefully.

Y/N let out a huff and she gave him a funny look. ‘All right, what is going on?’

Tony placed his hands on the wall, next to her head and his eyes darted over her face. ‘You flirted with that man.’

She laughed. ‘What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Don’t lie to me, sweetheart,’ Tony hissed. ‘I saw you, you saw me. You held his bicep and you kissed his cheek. And when you walked away, you swayed your hips.’

‘Okay, maybe I did,’ Y/N admitted. ‘But why does it matter? We are not exclusive, Tony.’

Tony pressed his nose against her jaw, and he bit her softly. ‘Don’t say that, Y/N. You know that you’re for my eyes only. You know that those tricks you pulled off there only work on me.’

She moaned softly. ‘Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry, sugar.’

Tony smirked and he kissed her. He stepped closer to her, so that their hips were touching. His hand released the wall and he held with one hand her ass and with the other her cheek.

‘You look so fucking sexy in that dress,’ he said between kisses.

‘Thanks,’ she breathed heavily. ‘My boss gave it to me.’

‘What a generous boss you have,’ Tony smirked.

‘Yes, and he is also very handsome,’ Y/N complimented him. ‘But he is a bit old.’

The look in Tony’s eyes changed and without saying another word, he turned Y/N around, pushed her against the wall and he rutted his hips against her ass. His left hand made his way to her core. With his other hand, he disabled both their comms.

‘Such a big mouth for a little girl,’ Tony whispered in her ear.

‘Tony!’ Y/N said shocked. ‘What if we get caught? Natasha and Clint -’

‘No-one knows that we are here in this hallway,’ he said. ‘And I turned off the comms. Let me make you feel good.’

He made his way under her dress and he moved her panties to the side. Slowly he touched her core and that made Y/N let out a moan. She put her hands against the wall for support

‘Yeah, moan for me, you little slut,’ Tony muttered. ‘I bet he won’t please you the way I do.’

‘N-no,’ Y/N gasped. ‘Only you, Tony.’

He circled with his pointer finger over her clit. Y/N began to pant, and she felt herself getting wet, when she felt Tony’s hard dick poking at her backside. Tony kissed her jaw, behind her ear and he made a way down to her shoulder, where he bit her. Y/N panted and because of the right amount of pressure that Tony was putting on her clit, a knot was formed in her stomach.

‘Keep going, Tony, please,’ she begged him. ‘You make me feel so good.’

‘Do I?’ he smirked. He let go off her clit and instead he pushed two fingers inside of her. ‘My sweet little slut. Thinking you can flirt with another men.’

Y/N was so close. If Tony could just rub her clit again. She turned her head so that she could kiss Tony. He willingly kissed her back while still pumping his fingers in and out of her.

‘I’m so close, Tony,’ Y/N moaned. ‘Please, don’t stop.’

‘Of course, sweetheart,’ Tony smiled, and he pressed a kiss against her shoulder. At the same time, he started to rub her clit again.

‘T-tony,’ Y/N cried when she felt his thumb over her clit. ‘I think I’m going to cum. Can I please cum? Please?’

She heard Tony chuckle and when her pussy clenched around his fingers, he slipped them out of her. He denied her orgasm.

‘I’m sorry sweetheart,’ Tony said with a grin and he let go over her entirely. ‘Sluts are not allowed to cum.’

Y/N looked at him in shock and out of breath and Tony only smirked. He watched her intensely while he put his fingers in his mouth and he licked them clean. After that, he walked away, leaving Y/N dumfounded

A couple of minutes later, Y/N arrived yet again in the hall. Her cheeks were reddened, and her pupils were blown. She nervously straightened her dress, raised her head and strutted through the hall looking for Tony. When she saw him, she stopped immediately. Tony was standing next to an improvised bar and he was talking to John. Y/N knew that he was doing this to mess with her. She had to pull herself together, so she did that. Slowly, but confidently, she made her way to the two men.

‘Hi, sweetheart,’ Tony greeted her with a grin, and he put his arm around her middle. ‘I was just talking to Mr. Wick.’

‘Tony,’ Y/N said with a forced smile. ‘I see. I already met John.’

‘Hey, Y/N,’ John said with a smirk. ‘I didn’t expect to see you so soon.’

Tony’s grip around Y/N tightened. Cleary he started to get jealous.

‘So, what were you two talking about?’ Y/N asked curious.

‘You actually,’ Tony answered, and he moved his hand more to her ass.

Y/N looked at both men with a funny face. ‘Me? What about me?’

‘I told your boss that you’re a very smart and intelligent young woman,’ John replied. ‘And I told him that he should keep an eye on you. It would be a shame if someone else tries and steal you away.’

What were these men talking about? Stealing her away?

Y/N laughed, and she patted Tony his chest. ‘I don’t think that Tony needs to worry about that. I enjoy my job at his company.’

‘I was not talking about your job, darling,’ John chuckled, and he downed his drink. ‘I have to go, but it was nice meeting you two. Y/N, I’m looking forward to that drink.’ Before he left, he winked at her.

Y/N her mouth fell open and Tony was seeing red. His fists were clenched, and his face was tense. She gulped and watched him in suspense.

He turned to look at her. ‘He is looking forward to which drink?’

‘Tony,’ Y/N mumbled, she was trying to defend herself. ‘It’s nothing. He asked me for a drink sometime. I was just being friendly.’

Tony laughed darkly. ‘Just being friendly. Sure, Y/N. Do what you have to do, and I will see you at the exit in ten.’

‘Tony,’ she said, a little bit disappointed. Was he jealous?

But Tony wasn’t having it. With a drink in his hand, he walked away from the young woman. She sighed and from the corners of her eyes, she saw John Wick leaving the exhibition. Y/N observed him, and she noticed that he was slightly nervously covering his right hand. She didn’t think much of it and shrugged it off. Also, with a drink in her hand, she walked away from the improvised bar and she decided to take a look at the ring again. Casually she made her way to the corner in the back and she walked straight towards the showcase. But when she came there, the guard was gone, and a perfect hole could be seen in the showcase. And the ring? The ring was missing. Her hand flew to her earpiece to activate it again.

‘Tony, the ring is gone, and the guard is missing,’ she whispered.

It took a couple of seconds before she could hear Tony his voice. ‘What?’

‘Come to the back,’ Y/N told him.

She saw him walking through the crowd and she waved at him. He saw her as well and he sped up his pace. Tony inspected the showcase and he came to the same conclusion as Y/N, it was stolen.

‘Who could have done it?’ Tony said out loud. ‘Did you see anything suspicious?’

‘No, because no-one was here,’ Y/N said and her eyed her surroundings. ‘I only saw John her and the guard... I don’t what happened when we were in the hallway... No-one was there, because it is not close to the other objects, the lights are bad here...’

Tony looked around him and then grabbed Y/N’s arm. ‘We should go. We will discuss this with Natasha and Clint.’

Y/N nodded, and she followed Tony.

When the couple arrived at the van, Clint opened the door for them.

‘And?’ he asked, as soon as they got in.

‘Well, the ring was there,’ Y/N answered with a sigh.

‘Was?’ Natasha said with raised eyebrows.

‘It has been stolen,’ Tony said, and he took a seat. ‘Did you guys see people leave early or act suspicious?’

They both shook their head, but then Natasha looked up again.

‘There was someone who left early, I thin he left just a couple of minutes before you guys,’ she said and she rolled her chair to the desk with a laptop. She hit some buttons and within seconds security footage popped up on the screen.

The four of them watched the screen and they waited for something to happen. At first, nothing exciting happened. There were people arriving late, people who were dropped of with an taxi and people who came outside to smoke a cigarette. Y/N twirled her hair around her pointer finger and watched intensely. She felt some eyes on her body and when she turned around, she saw that Tony was keeping an eye on her. Quickly he paid attention to the laptop again.

‘Wait, did you see that?’ Clint mentioned, but no-one had seem to notice. ‘Nat, can you rewind it a bit?’

She nodded and did what Clint asked. Clint stopped her and all of them paid close attention.

‘Pause it!’ Clint said and Natasha hit the spacebar.

Y/N gasped and Tony raised his eyebrows. Oh no. On the footage, they saw John Wick. He was watching his back and the screen was frozen at the moment that he cracked his knuckles.

‘Natasha,’ Y/N said with a small voice. ‘Can you zoom in on his right hand?’

Natasha zoomed in and Y/N sighed. A ring was visible on his pointer finger.

‘Fuck,’ Y/N cursed. ‘How could I be so stupid?’

Natasha gave her a funny look. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I spoke to him twice,’ she said and she put her hand against her forehead. ‘Tony also spoke to him. How didn’t we see it?’

‘Maybe it was in the time that we -’ Tony started, but he stopped talking when he realized that he couldn’t say what happened in the hallway.

Natasha and Clint raised their eyebrows, but Tony shook his head.

‘It also could have been the time that we split apart for the second time,’ Y/N tried to save them.

‘Okay, but do you know who this man is?’ Clint asked warily.

‘John Wick,’ both Y/N and Tony said. Y/N shrugged and Tony seemed to get a little bit jealous again.

‘Yeah, but do you know who he is?’ Clint asked again. ‘Do you know what kind of man he is?’

‘It seems like you,’ Tony sassed. ‘Do you know the man, Romanoff?’

‘Nope,’ Natasha commented, and she looked at Clint.

‘How can you not know this man?’ the archer exclaimed. ‘John Wick is one of the most famous hitmen in New York. He works for an organization that is involved with literally everything. They control the police and they have ties with every mob. And he is their hitman. He tried to stop a couple of years again, but he had to return. He is very lethal, and they say that he killed two men in a bar with only a pencil. A pencil!’

Natasha was impressed, while Y/N was a little bit shocked. That man that she met was a hitman?

‘We have to discuss this with the others,’ Tony sighed, he too was surprised.

Clint took his seat behind the wheel and he started the van. ‘Steve, Sam and Bruce left for a mission of their own, but they will be back tomorrow afternoon. We can schedule a meeting then.’

‘What?’ Y/N said. ‘No! This can’t wait until tomorrow. We have to do something now. Can’t we track his phone?’

‘Yes, we could, but we don’t have his phone number and we need to discuss this with the other Avengers,’ Tony told her, and he gave her a stern look.

‘I have his number,’ Y/N challenged him. ‘He gave me his business card.’

All the heads turned to Y/N. The young woman raised her eyebrows and she fished the card from her purse. Natasha tried to snatch it from her hand, but Y/N withdrew her hand.

Tony sighed. ‘I get it. But we can not just do something. We have to be rational.’

Y/N pursed her lips together and she made a ball of her fists. ‘Fine.’

The young woman took the seat next to Clint. She turned the volume of the radio higher and she looked out of the window, while she twirled the card in her hand.

A couple of minutes later, they arrived at the Tower. They unloaded the van and they made their way to the top floor of the building. Natasha and Clint were casually talking to each other and Y/N tried to talk to Tony, but he gave her short answers, or he even ignored her.

With a sigh she dumped her stuff in the meeting room. ‘Good night, everyone. I will see you tomorrow.’

‘Y/N,’ Natasha said, but Y/N already left the room.

She slammed the door shut and stomped away. Clint and Natasha were surprised, so they glanced at Tony. Something must have happened between the two of them.

‘What happened?’ Clint asked Tony.

‘What do you mean?’ Tony said, while dodging their looks.

‘You turned your comms off at one point,’ Natasha stated, and she leant against the door. ‘What happened between you and Y/N?’

‘Nothing,’ he said, and he sat down.

‘Really?’ Natasha said unamused and she folded her arms. ‘That doesn’t sound like nothing and Y/N storming away doesn’t look like nothing.’

‘Just forget it,’ Tony muttered, and he buried his head in his hands.

‘You got jealous again,’ Clint guessed, observant as always. ‘All three of us know that there is something going on between the two of you. You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to. But I bet you got jealous.’

‘She got feelings for you, you know,’ Natasha told him before she left him alone.

Clint patted Tony’s shoulder and he too left.

The next morning, Y/N stayed in bed longer then normally. Wanda brought her breakfast and they ate it together. After a while, the redhead left, and Y/N was alone again. She couldn’t focus on anything, except for tracing John Wick. His business card was laying on her desk and she kept looking at it. Y/N couldn’t believe that she had to wait until this afternoon before they could take action. She already knew that Steve wanted to do this the “right” way.

Y/N stepped out of bed and took her laptop. She couldn’t wait. And besides that, how hard would it be to track John’s phone? So that’s what she did. She typed away on her laptop and then she waited. A system on her laptop was doing tests and all she could do was wait. In the meantime, she went to the gym to train a bit and to empty her head. She was a bit upset about her and Tony. They never made it exclusive and yet he was treating her like they are a couple. So why was he so mad about her flirting with John? Why was he so mad that John asked her to go out for a drink? Why – and then a new idea hit her. She punched the punching ball with one final hit and then she ran back to her room.

John his business card was still on her desk and her phone was charging. She picked both up and she dialed his number. It rang a couple of times, before she heard his voice.

‘Hello?’ she heard him say.

‘John?’ Y/N asked. ‘Hi, it’s Y/N... from the exhibition yesterday?’

John laughed. ‘Y/N, of course, I remember you. I was afraid that you wouldn’t call. How are you?’

‘I’m good,’ she replied. ‘Just working. How are you?’

‘I’m also good,’ John said. ‘I just scheduled a meeting with my boss.’

‘Oh...’ Y/N muttered. Shit, there goes her plan. ‘For today?’

‘No,’ he chuckled. ‘For tomorrow. Why?’

She laughed softly. ‘Well, I was wondering... maybe we could go for that drink tonight?’

‘Yeah, that’s sounds great,’ John told her. ‘But I don’t feel like going out. Would you mind if we did it at my place? The drinks?’

Y/N wanted to do a victory dance. This conversation went exactly as planned, maybe even better. ‘No, that’s is fine! Really.’

‘Great,’ John answered. ‘I will text you my address. Be here around 10?’

‘I will,’ Y/N promised and she smiled. ‘Bye, John.’

‘See you tonight, Y/N,’ he said and then he hung up.

Y/N squealed and she clapped in her hands.

#tony stark smut #john wick smut #tony stark x john wick x reader #tony stark john wick reader smut #tony stark #john wick #tony stark john wick y/n smut

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Best of Marvel: Week of September 18th, 2019

Best of this Week: House of X #5 - Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia and Clayton Cowles

The X-Men have conquered their greatest enemy: Death.

After the events of the last issue, it was a wonder just how Hickman would write the X-Men out of the predicament that has stopped them so many times before. In the standard Hickman way, he made retcons that enhanced the usefulness of lesser characters and provided a way out that not only makes sense, but can be used for just about anything in regards to all of our favorite dead mutants.

Goldballs had one of the dumbest powers for the longest time; the ability to propel golden balls from his chest, but in this book we learn that these balls were actually non-viable eggs that, with the help of Proteus, could be made usable. After they’re injected with mutant DNA and given life by Elixir, Tempus ages the eggs to maturity and thanks to Hope’s powers, all of them operate at peak efficiency. This allows the mutants to effectively resurrect their dead friends as husks until Xavier implants mind engrams into the bodies with their past memories.

In House of X #1, one of the first things we see is Charles Xavier meeting the reborn forms of Scott Summers and Jean Grey as full adults after they emerge from egg sacs of some kind. Initially, I thought that this was just some sort of strange symbolic rebirth thing and while it still is, it has become far more literal and intriguing because of five mutants - Goldballs, Elixir, Hope Summers, Proteus and Tempus.

Everything about this scene was immaculate and well done to a point where I almost want to cry. What coloring there was felt low and hushed, almost as if we were seeing something miraculous, the gift of light. Camera angles were mostly downwards, to capture the harmony of the group before they began their work. They stood silent and acted on instinct, indicating they'd done this before, showing us that they were absolutely sure of their process.

Xavier leaning down, cradling his children and asking them to not die again as it kills a part of him every time that they do is heart wrenching, but joyous when he gives them their memories back. There's no hesitation, only love, only care.

The gravity of the event as it happens and seeing someone like Goldballs become one of the most integral mutants in the revival of the mutant race brought me to an unknown level of joy. There was so much weight to their actions with the excellent narration by Magneto as to what exactly they were doing while talking to Polaris, making the point that when they are apart, they are still strong mutants, but together they are even more powerful than previously imagined.

I’m almost certain they used the exact same pages from House of X #1 as we watch the resurrection of the dead team, but this time we have a whole new perspective of how we got there. In an absolutely beautiful celebration of life, we see the mutants of Krakoa praise the Five for bringing their mutant family back to life and a confirmation of those mutants by Storm. Under the purple leaves of a tree of Krakoa with a bit of sunlight shining through. Purple usually symbolizes nobility, passion and authenticity and with the use of dynamic angles and heroic posing, we can be absolutely sure that these are the same mutants.

Angel, Husk, Mystique, Monet, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Cyclops and Jean Grey all died to ensure that the Mother Mold didn’t come online and destroy the mutant race. In two nine panel grids, Storm greets hew newly reborn friends, questioning how she knows that it’s truly them. After they give their answers from the somber to the cocky to the… Monet, Storm asks what they are and the crowd answers with one word: Mutant.

This message also acts as a bit of foreshadowing for the end of the book and as the theme for this issue as a whole; the idea of togetherness, something that the human race has denied mutants for all of their existence.

The level of solidarity among the mutants is inspiring, the love and pride they have in themselves in infections and makes me want to see them do nothing but succeed. However, I do have something of a concern with the level of reverence they seem to be getting. As they walk naked down the stairs to interact with their fellow mutants, the other mutants reach their hands out at them as the sun shines brightly behind them. They seem as saviors, messiahs, people standing above their fellows and that’s a potentially dangerous path for them to go down, especially since Krakoa is performing so well and don’t need egos to ruin it.

On top of their resurrections, Xavier and Emma Frost are also trying to get the world's governments to accept Krakoa's pharmaceuticals and accept the Mutant Utopia as an independent nation. With a few notable exceptions from Russia, Latveria and Wakanda (among a few other countries that also would not accept Mutants or their cure alls) most of the world is very into the prospect of life giving drugs in exchange for giving mutants diplomatic immunity and recognition.

In many ways, this is the progress that they have always strived for. Some people aren't reticent to their acts of kindness out of ideological differences, but others see the benefit of siding with the new Nation as long as they can see the benefits. They may be alliances of necessity or fear, but the point still stands that their autonomy is being recognized. They're not being actively hunted, at least since Orchis was stopped from activating the Mother Mold and with their population in the cusp of becoming what it was in the past, they are flourishing and don't NEED human support, but they find it better that they receive it.

With the world coming together for mutants, there's only one more group left to truly unite the houses: The Villains. In my opinion, most of House of X has been leading up to this, the day when even mutant villains will come in full support of Xavier's new mission to save the race and there are some nasty ones here: Mister Sinister, Lady Mastermind, Mesmero, Selene, Sebastian Shaw, Emplate, Exodus, Gorgon, Black Tom Cassidy and Azazel.

But these villains pale in comparison to the final arrival in Apocalypse. In more than one way, Apocalypse's dream has finally come to fruition as well. Mutants have risen above and finally become the dominant species that he always believed they could be. They have evolved past their petty and weak natures and embraced their strength in both numbers and power. With Krakoa welcoming him with some lovely birds, Apocalypse speaks on behalf of all of the evil mutants when he says that they will obey the laws of Krakoa as they are written and cements this new alliance with a handshake with Charles Xavier.

This blew my mind. Apocalypse's whole deal was that he would absolutely destroy the weakness in the mutant gene pool and was only able to do so with Charles Xavier dead in the Age of Apocalypse timeline. He tore the world asunder, but as we learned from one of Moira MacTaggert's past lives, even this would not have lasted. If Moira's been in contact with Apocalypse, then he too knows that following Xavier right now is the only true path to mutant evolution and supremacy.

I have never been so elated, surprised and anticipating of a comic in so long.

Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia are a match made in heaven and this book has a cinematic quality through and through. Larraz allows the characters to appear overjoyed, happy and proud with beautiful facial expressions. With faraway shots and ever changing angles in the panels, there's such a grandeur in the story being told. The sun is always shining in this particular issue, much like it was in House of X #1, signaling a brand new day and bright future for mutantkind.

Gracia's colors are bright and vibrant, emanating with a hopeful glow. Their lighting effects are on JJ Abrams levels of shiny and somehow The Five characters stand out apart from the clothes that they used to wear. Tempus' blue pops out perfectly against Goldballs gold and black. The purple of the tree leaves in the Confirmation is absolutely beautiful and awe-inspiring and the darkness during Apocalypse's arrival set against the shining God rays is the perfect contrast.

I have never been more proud to be a fan of the X-Men. Knowing their history of death and rebirth, it's relieving to see that they now have the means to finally conquer their mortal enemy. There's so many that can be brought back to life (provided their deaths haven't already been retconned). John Proudstar, the original Thunderbird, Jamie Madrox, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Sean Cassidy, Blindfold and many others that either died so long ago or died at the hands of Matthew Rosenberg's Uncanny X-Men.

House of X has gone above and beyond and rejuvenated a portion of the Marvel Universe that has been a chaotic mess for the better part of almost 20 years by this point. There's finally unity amongst all of the mutants in the Universe, from 90s villains to even recent ones from Brian Michael Bendis' run.

Jonathan Hickman is proving that almost anything he touches turns to gold as he's crafted an amazing tale in only nine issues, counting Powers of X as well. I find myself, for the first time in a long time, not just going through the motions. I feel as though I'm witnessing a revolution occurring, an actual brand new era for some of my favorite super people.

The series is set to conclude in about three weeks for X-Men #1 and I am already so very excited. Highest of recommends.

What are we? Mutants.

#marvel #marvel comics #house of x #charles xavier #apocalypse #goldballs #magneto #storm #jean grey #monet #cyclops #jonathan hickman #pepe larraz #marte gracia #xmen #x men

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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND July 4, 2019 - SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME, MIDSOMMAR, MARIANNE & LEONARD

It’s the 4thof July weekend, which is often the bane of my existence because I’m never invited to do anything with anyone. Fortunately, I’m going back to Ohio for the first time in nine months so I’ll be spending this 4thof July with family, and hopefully, that will include some movie-watching.

The movie I’m most excited about seeing again is SPIDERMAN: FAR FROM HOME (Sony), the sequel directed by Jon Watts that returns Tom Holland to the Spidey-suit and brings back all of his friends and classmates, as well as throwing Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio into the mix. You can read how much I enjoyed the movie in my review below, and also, check out my interview with the director, also below.

MY REVIEW OF SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME

INTERVIEW WITH JON WATTS ON THE BEAT

The other wide release this weekend is Ari Aster’s sophomore feature MIDSOMMAR (A24), starring Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor (Sing Street) and Will Poulter as a group of friends who travel to Sweden to observe a Midsommar ritual held by the community of their friend, but things are not what they seem. Before you can say “The Wicker Man,” they’re finding out the real intentions for their hosts.

Mini-Review: Like most, I loved Ari Aster’s Hereditary and saw it as the advent of a fantastic new vision in filmmaking and horror, specifically. Whenever a filmmaker delivers such an amazing debut, his or her follow-up is going to be eyed with equal parts anticipation and scrutiny, and that’s truly been the case with Midsommar.

Like Aster’s previous film, this one begins with the death of family members, in this case those of Florence Pugh’s Dani early on in the movie. Dani’s boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor from Sing Street) is ready to break up with Dani, because he can’t handle her family drama. At the same time, Christian has been invited by his friend Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren) to go to his small Swedish community to take part in the Midsommar ritual along with friends Josh and Mark (Will Poulter). When Dani finds out about it and Christian invites her (think she’ll say “No’ – she doesn’t) – it soon becomes obvious Dani will be the fifth wheel threatening to bring down the mood. That’s okay because Pelle’s friendly community might have ulterior motives for the visitors.

There’s a lot to like about Midsommar, particularly Aster’s clever way of exploring The Wicker Man territory in a new way that offers terror and horror often in the brightest of daylight, an achievement in itself. Other than the film’s look and the production design that went into making it such a unique-looking visual film, it’s hard to ignore the fact that this is the exact same “stupid young people on vacation getting slaughtered” motif we’ve seen in so many horror films from Eli Roth’s Hostel movies to Touristas to so many more.

For the most part, Aster has another strong cast -- Florence Pugh is quite fantastic in a very different role, although she does a lot of crying in this movie. Jack Reynor could begin stepping into a few of Chris Pratt’s roles without anyone batting an eye, because he has similar rugged looks and charm. I actually liked Will Poulter’s obnoxious American to the point where when he mysteriously vanishes halfway through the movie, it loses quite a bit.

Beyond that, Midsommar explores some of the same themes Aster explored in his first movie, including death and grief and family squabbles with one character crying a lot, and of course, diabolical cult rituals and lots of nudity. Aster also use the same upside-down camera shot he used in Hereditary, which itself was borrowed from Darren Aronofsky. Maybe I’d have liked Midsommar more if it didn’t feel like Aster was retreading familiar territory. I do have to wonder if Aster has ever had therapy, because he certainly seems to have issues, maybe even with a sister, driving him to kill sisters in both his films?

Owing as much to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as the more obvious Wicker Man, MIdsommar is still not your typical horror movie by any means. If your favorite part of Hereditary was its crazy ending and you didn’t think it was crazy enough, then Midsommar is the movie for you!

Rating: 7/10

LIMITED RELEASES

Because it’s the 4thof July this week, we’re getting far fewer limited releases but I do want to call attention to a couple docs opening this week.

But first, I want to draw attention to a movie that opened at the Film Forum last week, Lila Avilés’ The Chambermaid, an amazing portrait of a Mexican maid in a high-end hotel as she goes through the day-to-day while trying to achieve her goals and dreams, all which seem to move further and further away. I was a fan of last year’s Romaand though The Chambermaid is a different type of movie, it features another amazing performance by an indigenous Mexican, Gabriela Cartol, who had appeared in a couple other movies before, but she really keeps the viewer drawn to the movie and the things that she goes through. At times, it feels like there’s no way for her to fulfill those dreams, and it’s something to which we can all relate.

A doc that’s a must see for all Leonard Cohen fans is Nick Broomfield’s MARIANNE & LEONARD: WORDS OF LOVE (Roadside Attractions), an amazing look at the relationship between Cohen and Marianne Ihlen, the Norwegian woman with whom he lived on the isle of Hydra in Greece, one of his early muses and the inspiration for the song “Goodbye, Marianne.” It’s an amazing film by the award-winning documentarian that has a lot of revelations, including the fact that Broomfield as friends with Marianne going back to the ‘60s, making him the perfect filmmaker to tackle the subject. It opens in select cities including the Angelika Film Center in New York Friday.

Opening at the IFC Center in New York is Rob Fruchtman and Steve Lawrence’s The Cat Rescuers about New York City’s 500,000 street cats and a group of volunteers who go through Brooklyn getting these cats fixed and returning them to their colonies or getting them adopted. It’s a movie that cat lovers will probably enjoy similar to the film Kedi from a few years back, but it’s also kind of sad when you realize that some of this cat population will have to be put down, because cats are adorable and you don’t want them to die.

Opening at the City Cinemas Village East in New York almost two years since premiering at TIFF is Tali Shalom-Ezer’s My Days of Mercy, starring Ellen Page and Amy Seimetz (Pet Sematary) as sisters Lucy and Martha who attend state executions to demonstrate against the death penalty. At one such event, Lucy meets Mercy (Kate Mara), the daughter of a police officer whose partner was killed by a man about to be put to death. They quickly bond before Lucy confesses that her own father (Elias Koteas) is on Death Row.

The only other limited release this weekend is Frédéric Petitjean’s directorial debut Cold Blood (Screen Media), starring Jean Reno as Henry, a hitman who is living in a cabin by a lake in the Rocky Mountains when he encounters a young woman who survived a snowmobile accident and has to decide whether to save her life. It opens in select cities and On Demand Friday.

STREAMING AND CABLE

There aren’t any big movie releases on Netflix this weekend but that’s because Season 3 of Stranger Things will premiere on the 4thof July, and I expect many people will be spending the early part of the weekend watching that.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

Unfortunately, I missed something last week in terms of repertory series at the Metrograph as I didn’t realize that former Village Voice critic J. Hoberman was doing another series in conjunction with his latest bookMake My Day: Movie Culture in the Age of Reagan. The series Reagan at the Movies: Found Illusionsincludes a mixed array of films including 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still, a new restoration of Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Clint Eastwood’s Firefox (1983), Hal Ashby’s Being There(1979) starring Peter Sellers and more!

Also on Wednesday, Metrograph will be premiering a special 20thanniversary restoration of Takashi Miike’s horror classic Audition, which I think is so perfect for the remake treatment due to the #MeToo movement and its implications. Can you imagine how well a revenge thriller about a young woman getting revenge on sleazy movie producer types would go over in this day and age? Call me, Jason Blum!

This week’s Late Nites at Metrograph is Penelope Spheeris’ Suburbia (1983) while the Playtime: Family Matinees is Robert Zemeckis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988).

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Weds has a special matinee screening of the Bond film From Russia With Love (1963) and Tarantino’s theater isn’t taking off on the 4th of July. In fact, it’s holding a special event screening of Red Dawn (1984) and Rocky IV (1985) (You might notice a theme there… USA! USA!) Weds and Thursday are also double features of The Happening (1967) with Anthony Quinn and Land Raiders (1970), starring Telly Savalas. The Friday/Saturday double features are the 1966 sci-fi classic Fantastic Voyage with 100 Rifles. The weekend’s KIDDE MATINEE is the Disney classic The Love Bug (1968), while Friday’s midnight screening is Tarantino’s Django Unchained and Saturday at midnight is a 35mm print of Richard Rush’s Getting Straight (1970), starring Elliot Gould and Candice Bergen. Sunday and Monday is a double feature of Dean Martin’s Murderer’s Row (1966) with Ann-Margret’s Kitten with a Whip (1964).

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Elaine May’s Mikey and Nicky (1976) gets a new 4k restoration that begins on Friday, plus May’s 1971 film A New Leaf will also screen through the weekend. The restoration of Jennie Livingston’s Paris Burning continues to play through the weekend, while the Film Forum will also continue showing Elaine May’s Ishtar and the Coen’s The Big Lebowski through the 4thof July.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

The Friday after the 4thof July sees a double feature of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) and Hard Ticket to Hawaii (1987), co-presented by Beyond Fest. Saturday is a screening of the classic Lawrence of Arabia (1962) in 70mm, while Sunday sees a double feature of The Return of the Living Dead (1985) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986).

AERO (LA):

Oh, look… Spielberg’s Jaws is playing here, too… but on Wednesday. Director Peter Hunt will be on hand Friday to screen his movie musical 1776 (1972). On Saturday, you can see a double feature of Jaws 3-D (1983) and A*P*E (1976), co-presented by Cinematic Void, and on Sunday is a Baseball Double Feature of 1993’s The Sandlot and Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own (1992), both in 35mm!

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

MOMI is having another screening of Stephen Frears’ My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), starring Daniel Day Lewis on Saturday, wrapping up Grit and Glitter: Before and After Stonewall. This weekend’s See It Big! Action movies are Robocop (1987) on Friday and the Wachowskis’ The Matrix on Saturday and Sunday.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

Opening on Friday is a 4k restoration of the Director’s Cut of Daniel Vigne’s The Return of Martin Guerre (1982), starring Gerard Depardieu.

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

On Saturday, you can see Alfred Hitchcock’s terror masterpiece Psycho (1960) on the big screen again!

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

Friday’s midnight screening is Tommy Wiseau’s midnight movie “classic” The Room (2003).

Next week, things slow down with two lower-profile films, the comedy Stuber, starring Kumhail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista, and the alligator horror film Crawl, from Alexandra Aja and Sam Raimi.

#SpiderManFarFromHome Midsommar TheChambermaid MarianneLeonard Movies Reviews

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brainstatic · 7 years

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OK, this genre of pearl-clutching about college kids not being racist enough is overdone enough as it is, but this article by noted blowhard Jonathan Haidt is too much. I have to rant about this piece of shit.

What is happening to our country, and our universities? It sometimes seems that everything is coming apart.

This is a complaint found in every generation in every civilization on the planet. We have written records of ancient Greeks and Romans making this exact same whine.

Anyway, then there’s a brief summary of cosmology 101 because we’re in for the biggest historical stretch ever.

I’d like you to consider an idea that I’ll call “the fine-tuned liberal democracy.” It begins by looking backward a few million generations and tracing our ancestry, from tree-dwelling apes to land-dwelling apes, to upright-walking apes, whose hands were freed up for tool use, to larger-brained hominids who made weapons as well as tools, and then finally to homo sapiens, who painted cave walls and painted their faces and danced around campfires and worshipped gods and murdered each other in large numbers.

But enough about the 2016 Republican National Convention.

Here is the fine-tuned liberal democracy hypothesis: as tribal primates, human beings are unsuited for life in large, diverse secular democracies, unless you get certain settings finely adjusted to make possible the development of stable political life. This seems to be what the Founding Fathers believed.

I’m not sure the slave-owners were as committed to diverse and secular democracy as you think.

Thankfully, our Founders were good psychologists. They knew that we are not angels; they knew that we are tribal creatures.

Yet they completely failed to anticipate hyper-partisanship, an oversight that will be remembered as the one that caused America’s downfall.

So what did the Founders do? They built in safeguards against runaway factionalism, such as the division of powers among the three branches, and an elaborate series of checks and balances.

No, they were not concerned with factionalism, they were afraid of three things: tyrants, unqualified demagogues, and leaders beholden to foreign powers. Bang up jobs guys.

What would Jefferson say if he were to take a tour of America’s most prestigious universities in 2017?

Thomas Jefferson owned people and didn’t know what bacteria is, who gives a shit.

Why do we hate and fear each other so much more than we used to as recently as the early 1990s? The political scientist Sam Abrams and I wrote an essay in 2015, listing ten causes. I won’t describe them all, but I’ll give you a unifying idea, another metaphor from physics: keep your eye on the balance between centrifugal and centripetal forces. Imagine three kids making a human chain with their arms, and one kid has his free hand wrapped around a pole. The kids start running around in a circle, around the pole, faster and faster. The centrifugal force increases. That’s the force pulling outward as the human centrifuge speeds up. But at the same time, the kids strengthen their grip. That’s the centripetal force, pulling them inward along the chain of their arms. Eventually the centrifugal force exceeds the centripetal force and their hands slip. The chain breaks. This, I believe, is what is happening to our country. I’ll briefly mention five of the trends that Abrams and I identified, all of which can be seen as increasing centrifugal forces or weakening centripetal forces.

This is the metaphor that underpins the rest of the article. It’s admittedly interesting, too bad he applies it in the most asinine ways possible.

External enemies: Fighting and winning two world wars, followed by the Cold War, had an enormous unifying effect.

We put Japanese people in camps and spent the 50s afraid our neighbors could be communist spies, but sure, unifying, right.

The Vietnam War was different, but in general, war is the strongest known centripetal force.

War brings people together except for that one time it tore the country apart. Also all the other times.

Immigration and diversity: This one is complicated and politically fraught. Let me be clear that I think immigration and diversity are good things, overall.

I smell a “but” coming.

The economists seem to agree that immigration brings large economic benefits. The complete dominance of America in Nobel prizes, music, and the arts, and now the technology sector, would not have happened if we had not been open to immigrants.

So we agree immigrants are the only ones doing the things which future generations will remember us fondly for.

But

There it is.

as a social psychologist, I must point out that immigration and diversity have many sociological effects, some of which are negative.

This is from someone who just implied the World Wars had no meaningful negative side effects and Vietnam was just a big oopsie.

The political scientist Robert Putnam found this in a paper titled “E Pluribus Unum,” in which he followed his data to a conclusion he clearly did not relish: “In the short run, immigration and ethnic diversity tend to reduce social solidarity and social capital. New evidence from the US suggests that in ethnically diverse neighborhoods residents of all races tend to ‘hunker down.’ Trust (even of one’s own race) is lower, altruism and community cooperation rarer, friends fewer.”

That’s questionable, but notice how it specifies “in the short run.” What does Putnam have to say about the long run? Let’s take a quote from the abstract from that very link: “In the long run immigration and diversity are likely to have important cultural, economic, fiscal, and developmental benefits.” Weird that Haidt left that part out, he’s so committed to diversity.

I repeat that diversity has many good effects too, and I am grateful that America took in my grandparents from Russia and Poland, and my wife’s parents from Korea. But Putnam’s findings make it clear that those who want more diversity should be even more attentive to strengthening centripetal forces.

And yet you left out that Putnam agrees with you.

The final two causes I will mention are likely to arouse the most disagreement, because these are the two where I blame specific parties, specific sides. They are: the Republicans in Washington, and the Left on campus. Both have strengthened the centrifugal forces that are now tearing us apart.

Haidt sees too equivalent forces at work: the party that dominates every lever of government, makes all laws, controls the presidency and all executive departments, and the majority of state governments. On the other side, there’s a 19-year-old Oberlin student who wrote about safe spaces for the school newspaper.

The more radical Republican Party: When the Democrats ran the House of Representatives for almost all of six decades, before 1995, they did not treat the Republican minority particularly well.

Those six decades included long periods where Dixiecrats voted with Republicans more often than with their own party, giving Republicans a functional majority. There were also the so-called “Rockefeller Republicans”, socially liberal Republicans named after their de fact leader, New York governor Nelson Rockefeller. They voted with Democrats a good chunk of the time. This blended partisan makeup sort of kills his whole belief in the permanent partisanship of American politics, so I don’t expect him to mention it, if he knows about it at all. I don’t know how Democrats mistreated Republicans during this period, maybe by almost impeaching their profoundly criminal president?

The new identity politics of the Left: Jonathan Rauch offers a simple definition of identity politics: a “political mobilization organized around group characteristics such as race, gender, and sexuality, as opposed to party, ideology, or pecuniary interest.” Rauch then adds: “In America, this sort of mobilization is not new, unusual, unAmerican, illegitimate, nefarious, or particularly leftwing.” This definition makes it easy for us to identify two kinds of identity politics: the good kind is that which, in the long run, is a centripetal force. The bad kind is that which, in the long run, is a centrifugal force.

Yes, I’m sure Haidt does find it quite easy to separate the civil rights movements he likes and those he doesn’t like. I’m going to predict the ones he likes are the ones led by dead people who aren’t here to make him uncomfortable. I predict the I Have A Dream speech will make an appearance.

When slavery was written into the Constitution, it set us up for the greatest explosion of our history. It was a necessary explosion, but we didn’t manage the healing process well in the Reconstruction era. When Jim Crow was written into Southern laws, it led to another period of necessary explosions, in the 1960s.

While I would contest that racial strife happened in fits and bursts, and not in a long continuous stream, I appreciate that Haidt acknowledges the thing that torpedoes his first billion paragraphs about the Founders’ commitment to peace and justice.

Martin Luther King’s rhetoric made it clear that this was a campaign to create conditions that would allow national reconciliation. He drew on the moral resources of the American civil religion to activate our shared identity and values: “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note.” And: “I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’

Called it.

Of course, some people saw the civil rights movement as divisive, or centrifugal.

“Some people” meaning the FBI and the guy who shot him.

But what happens when young people study intersectionality? In some majors, it’s woven into many courses. Students memorize diagrams showing matrices of privilege and oppression.

That has never happened.

Intersectionality is like NATO for social-justice activists.

I have no words.

Can you imagine a culture that is more antithetical to the mission of a university? Can you believe that many universities offer dozens of courses that promote this way of thinking? Some are even requiring that all students take such a course.

I’m only in my first year of grad school for linguistics but I can tell you that it’s literally impossible without an understanding of intersectionality.

Anyway, the rest of the article is just rephrasing the first parts, and then he plugs his website called “The Heterodox Academy” (it means “unconventional.”) Being unconventional or contrarian is like being rich: if you have to tell people you are, you’re probably not. The purported goal of this website is to challenge “conventional thinking” that became conventional supposedly without evidence. The ones listed in their FAQ are:

Humans are a blank slate, and “human nature” does not exist.

No one has believed this since the 60s, so you can triumphantly cross that one off your list.

All differences between human groups are caused by differential treatment of those groups, or by differential media portrayals of group members.

Groups? What groups? Like, theater nerds, history buffs, professional bowlers? Oh you mean races, your goal is to promote race science, got it.

Social stereotypes do not correspond to any real differences.

In case it wasn’t clear this was about racism.

In conclusion, Johnathan Haidt is racist buffoon and the only injustice at work is that he was ever given respect in the first place.

#johnathan haidt #i haidt this asshole

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mood-report · 4 years

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The Dress Rehearsal

I’ve been trying to pull this post together for well over a month and finally had to just puke it out. Sorry.

This is a gut take on what’s happened and what’s about to happen. It’s not meant to be 100% correct. It’s simply a bit of scenario planning and mental processing so that I might anticipate and understand what is actually happening -- independent of narratives -- so that I may adapt to whatever comes.

I do not need to be right or wrong. I need to know when I’m right and when I’m wrong. Then I can develop a new expectation.

The take is this: we’ve just experienced the dress rehearsal for what will happen after the current credit cycle finishes.

We’ve just had a violent “shot across the bow” warning us to wake the hell up.

Yet many billionaires and market professionals say that we’re in the first phase of a crash.

I disagree.

The real crash likely comes later, not for another 2-3 years, as suggested here by the Case/Shiller US National Home Price Index, which I refer to as the credit/housing cycle.

I know, it sounds obtuse to say this after what we’ve just experienced -- the fastest stock market decline in history. Millions out of work. Debt markets in disarray. Negative oil prices. Food supply in question. And a pandemic still rippling through populations globally.

Wasn’t this a crash?

It certainly was.

Now it’s over.

Before I explain my reasoning, allow me to address a couple things.

1) My premise is that we have been operating in an explicit credit and debt economy since Nixon closed the gold window in 1971, and that since 1987 the markets have become just liquidity gauges due to Fed meddling.

So to me the choice is either to extrapolate the news or to extrapolate liquidity.

In order to extrapolate liquidity, I rely on the study of social mood because ample liquidity forms similar patterns across many different markets and financial instruments. For example, ABC patterns.

Therefore,

2) Let me repeat the premise I posted back on March 23rd, the day of the low.

We’ve been in an Elliott expanded flat “ABC” correction since the peak of January 2018 that has been a fourth-wave. Odds are we’re now headed for a new record high in a fifth wave.

The A-wave got people’s attention as it bottomed during the Christmas debacle in 2019. The B-wave then faked everyone out as it reached above the A-wave and peaked in February 2020, after which the C-wave, notorious for its viciousness, represented the crash and scared the hell out of everyone.

“Declining ‘C’ waves are usually devastating in their destruction. They are third waves and have most of the properties of third waves. It is during this decline that there is virtually no place to hide except cash. The illusions held throughout waves A and B tend to evaporate and fear takes over. “ (Frost & Prechter, 1978)

Here is how I labeled it on a 60-minute chart:

(The dashed vertical represents the New moon which often signifies new trends. We’re coming up on another one on the 22nd.)

Now the market is moving higher on the shockwave of extreme negative mood as it transitions to positive mood.

And the funny thing is that ABC pattern is still all over the place.

Homebuilders.

Transportation.

Emerging Markets.

Chemicals.

Financials.

Industrials.

Consumer Discretionary.

Materials.

The popular narrative is that the crash is just starting. That debt liquidation is starting. That we’re headed into deflation. That asset prices will fall much further. That pensions will soon go bust. That it’s already started. That it can’t be stopped.

Yet none of those charts above would be sporting ABC corrective patterns if that was true.

Below are some more charts to make the point.

(These are from my favorite site The Market Ear. Who needs to pay $40,000 for a Bloomberg terminal when these guys are around?).

Nothing says “fourth wave” correction like inflows turning into outflows from the Jan ‘18 high to the recent March ‘20 lows:

Everyone went to cash at the same magnitude as 2008:

Another reading from Citi saying the same thing -- everyone went to cash:

Net new credit issuance is on-pace to shatter all records, thus diffusing the deflation argument for now (credit would be liquidating):

BofAML bull/bear indicator supports the Jan ‘18 third-wave mood peak followed by fourth-wave “surprising disappointment” into Mar ‘20 low:

Goldman Sentiment Indicator suggests virtually no one is long:

David Rosenberg’s example of just how washed out Industrial Production was recently, worse than the Great Depression:

Citi’s Panic/Euphoria Model remains in panic mode:

Let’s now discuss some currencies and commodities because the whole enchilada is riding on the US dollar.

Full disclosure, for years I’ve been a dollar bull, a staunch deflationist, a structural bear on equity markets even as I was buying them, and a proponent of a dollar squeeze leading to a much higher dollar.

None of this has been negated in my view, only the timing continues to be in question. So I’ve had to play the hand I’ve been dealt for years now.

Coming into this year I wanted to be long energy, platinum, copper, and bitcoin in order to diversify my allocation.

Why.

Because USD and palladium.

It gets boring hearing endless calls for the demise of the dollar, but this chart has had me concerned for some time. Since it has broken out though, it looks like it could go either way. But I don’t do coin flips.

If it goes higher, deflation will likely occur, and commodities & emerging markets are screwed. Equities too. Actually, pretty much everything, and all those billionaires and market professionals will be right.

But, if it should roll over from here and test the 60-65 area, an alternate scenario could play out that no one is talking about: the possibility for rising asset prices, rising input prices, and higher interest rates that would kill the economy.

Plenty of people are forecasting inflation, but only after deflation first. Again, I differ with the timing.

If the DXY wedge shape held (around 60-65), the dollar would be primed for a violent reversal higher.

Then deflation would occur. And the entire house of cards would fall.

This is the scenario which I see playing out over the next 2-5 years, and let me show you why I think it’s starting to happen.

It is through palladium, which I’ve had my eye on as the liquidity poster child for a while, that I found some correlations that probably wouldn’t be happening unless the market is about to throw a dollar curve ball.

I’ve been monitoring palladium figuring that liquidity would eventually rotate out of it and into other commodity assets, starting with platinum.

While it appeared for some time that palladium was forming an Elliott third-wave targeting 3500+, it looks like it has now failed.

In doing so, it may have created a complex pattern requiring a deep retracement, and may be setting up a nice pairs trade with platinum -- short PA/long PL.

All that liquidity will probably flow elsewhere. I knew I wanted to be long energy and copper stocks, so I started digging into their correlations to see which one I should wade into first.

Immediately copper’s correlation to platinum showed the yellow metal’s relative strength so I started there.

And for a while crude oil vs platinum looked good, but got messy during the Russia/Saudi production war.

But things got even more interesting when I looked at platinum versus currencies. They are sending a loud message.

Here’s PL correlated to AUD.

PL correlated to GBP.

PL correlated to CAD.

PL correlated to EUR.

PL correlated to MXN.

The message to me is: if palladium is cooked, and if long platinum is beginning to work, it means that I need to be long currencies too.

Each of these assets -- crude, copper, platinum, FX, is telling me that a rotation may be about to occur out of the US dollar.

I’m listening.

I’ll also be listening for sounds that this scenario -- long copper, energy, platinum, and currencies -- is starting to get noticed.

Because if and when it does, it will be called inflation.

I’m not in that camp. I think it will be closer to stagflation.

Rising input prices and rising interest rates in a credit and debt-based economy can probably only be tolerated for a short while until they break the economy, especially the one we’ll have on the other side of Covid-19. Yes, we’ll be jacked-up on speed, but chances are we won’t be truly healthy after such a devastating blow.

So I would be keeping a sharp eye on the dollar in 2-3 years for signs that its downside momentum is slowing. That could be the cue to begin taking profits on the “inflation” trade and get ready for the deflation trade, which would be long US dollar, long cash, and short just about everything else.

Because in about 5 years we could be right back to where we were in March, and not because of a virus.

Because of debt.

In the meantime I’ll also be listening to the inner voice telling me to start preparing, not prepping, for that time.

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zapgraptrash · 7 years

Text

World-building June - Day 4: History

THIS IS OBSCENELY LONG AND PROBABLY OBSCENELY BORING SO IT’S GOING UNDER A CUT! i might add more to it as i think of it

Since humans became smart enough to make civilisations – emotion magic is a thing but nobody knows how to harness it and many people are unconvinced it’s actually real so everywhere has its own myths and legends about it (once upon a time these two people were so in love that their love burned down a whole country, etc). Kind of like how we have stories about ghosts and vampires and werewolves and stuff. One popular belief is that it comes from the moons, so when they’re full the magic is particularly Strong.

476 – The Roman Empire does NOT fall/split, it does just goddamn fine. There’s no squabbling over who becomes the next emperor because they use a normal system of getting it off your relatives. It extends a lot further than in Dimension 1, integrating all the “barbarians” that otherwise would have invaded and contributed to its downfall in our world. The Dark Ages don’t happen and Christianity doesn’t become so huge. It still exists but it doesn’t have a monopoly on education and shit.

999 – This is when it ACTUALLY falls. The emperor is assassinated and the whole empire collectively loses its shit because there is no one to take over. It splits into a bunch of new countries with their own rulers. From here on, technology and science and knowledge in general proceed a lot faster than they do in Dimension 1, as there was no period of regression to prevent it from doing so.

1503 – The Sengoku Period of Japan (feudal Japan) is shorter than it is in Dimension 1 and ends here, the country becomes unified and likewise develops quicker. Samurai have so many guns and they keep those guns.

1885 – Cars exist now. Also the USA declares its independence from the British Empire (which is still obscenely fucking huge).

1910-18 – There is a surge in “incidents” supposedly involving emotion magic and since video now exists, stuff has been recorded and now there’s growing interest in it.

1919 – Morgan-Ellis Labs is founded to try and find out what exactly emotion power can do. [note to self the name comes from Russ Morgan and Seger Ellis whomst wrote the music for It’s All Over But The Crying i.e the fallout 4 theme song]

1920 – Madnug is born.

1929 – All these empires (Britain, USA, Russia, Japan, China, Germany) are getting too big for their own good and relations between all of them are strained. They’re all racing to make the biggest goddamn bomb ever.

1929-44 – Some form of Cold War. Everyone wants to go to war but don’t want to destroy the entire planet (yet). Massive amounts of xenophobically charged crimes all over the world. It’s just a thing that happens now. The research on emotion power slows down as “fear” and “anger” dominate everything. Also during this time, fossil fuels are running low which of course does not help. Meanwhile Morgan-Ellis are trying to figure out if emotion can be used as a power source like it’s electricity or something.

1940 – Madnug moves from Japan to Boston, to work at Morgan-Ellis Labs.

1945 – October 21: The president of the USA is assassinated by a Russian and shit just kicks the FUCK off.

October 23: The War starts, and then ends a day later. Very little of humanity survives the initial bombs, and even more die off in the aftermath.

Morgan-Ellis Labs is one of a few places that had a bunker built underneath it in anticipation of a war so most people working there manage to survive the firestorms that happen immediately after the bombs fall. They stay in the bunker until it’s safe to actually be outside the lab.

Madnug and the other survivors from the lab start trying to help anyone left outside. There aren’t many but they stick together.

1946 – The General appears in Dimension 0, in a much smaller and weaker state than it “currently” is.

The survivors now have a settlement near what used to be Laconia, NH, as it’s away from where the nukes hit. They’ve named it Sanctuary. However resources are running low and tensions are high, nobody really knows what to do as there are no animals and growing crops has had little to no success.

On October 23, exactly a year after the bombs fell and also Madnug’s birthday, one of these arguments happens and she just goes off by herself for a while to be miserable. The general locks in on her misery and appears before her, communicating telepathically. It claims it can make everything better through bringing “help” from alternate dimensions, but it needs Madnug’s help to do this. For the next few months, Madnug secretly builds a gate to be used for inter dimensional travel according to the general’s instructions. It’s a bit haphazard but it’ll do.

1947 – The general tells Madnug that he/it can provide the final bit of power to open the gate, but in order to do that it needs some (more) negative energy. Madnug doesn’t understand how any more of it could possibly be generated, the entire world is dead and those who are left are rapidly losing the will to live. The general talks Madnug into shooting all those who are left but in such a way that they die slowly. It’s for the greater good, he says. Once we can access alternate dimensions and get what we need, we can start over. Be the creators of our own civilisation. Madnug doesn’t want to do this and tries to kill herself instead but she seems immune to death??? The general keeps her alive no matter what and since he’s basically bonded to her now there’s nothing she can do so she has to do what he says.

The gate to Dimension 1 is opened. Madnug and the general “recruit” people (mostly soldiers and prisoners from WW2) to steal resources from Dimension 1’s Earth, recover things from the bombed places in Dimension 0 (usually dying in the process) and start building up a proper settlement in Sanctuary. The planet itself is also kind of called Sanctuary at this point too and it sticks.

1948 – The general grows a lot larger and more powerful from the misery of the people stolen who are doing his dirty work and he is able to open gates to other dimensions now. The next wave of people to be recruited are made to join an army which invades these other dimensions to either steal more resources or just cause mayhem for whoever lives there (if anyone). This is also when the general becomes known as “The General”.

1950 – Sanctuary is now a fairly large city and the army is the reason is it able to function. The army is named the Platinum Army. I currently don’t have an explanation for this because I got it from a song lmao.

Madnug starts trying to learn every kind of science possible for “something to keep her sane” in between going to recruit people and the general doing his thing.

1965 – The after-effects of the bombs have decreased enough to be “safe”. Crops do better in the small spaces where they can be grown, the ozone is healing, the smoke clouds are thinning, the sun is more visible more often, rain/snow is more frequent, the overall temperature is no longer Fucking Freezing, etc.

1976-77 – A small group starts to figure out the emotion magic of Dimension 0 and tries to utilise it to make an attack on the general. They get disposed of almost immediately.

1980 – Madnug should be 60 now but she still looks like she’s in her mid-late 20s. Immune to death and immune to aging? She has long since stopped interacting with anyone in the Platinum Army unless it’s absolutely necessary and even then her identity is well hidden. She still recruits people though, but no longer by herself, sometimes other people are sent to do it too.

1986 – The general is now powerful enough to devour entire goddamn planets when they’ve been ransacked to his satisfaction.

1995-96 – The internet becomes common use for everyone in Sanctuary, though it’s used for communication a lot more than information, as information is mostly lost and/or borrowed from Dimension 1. Cell phones are also common use.

2003 – Trashland starts!!!!!!!

#god i hope i didnt forget any bits to take out #worldbuilding june tag

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pokemonfreak387 · 7 years

Text

Winter Break (Redone) Chapter 13 (Friskriel Fanfic)

Notes: You know the deal by now. School delayed me. Also there’s some more PTSD flashbacks plus someone nearly getting killed. Hate to spoil things, but I want to give that warning. Credit to @thunders29 for proofreading.

Chapter Summary: Frisk has a talk with Gillian that goes south very quickly. 2897 Words.

I Told EVERYONE

What politicians loved more than anything was to see their opponents in their weakest state. They hit the most delicate of nerves, the most painful of triggers, and everything falls apart. To see the rage and the anger within the face of the opponent, their tactics becoming useless and obvious, that was the dream. Lucky for Frisk, none of their opponents were here to see them in such a state after they had found out who gave the information that led to Asriel’s beating. Anger, betrayal, and surprise were what Frisk was filled with as they walked up to the door.

The house was actually quite farther than Frisk had initially anticipated, but thankfully Sans was happy to help Frisk out. He was especially glad to assist in getting revenge on whoever called them a incestual tetraphile, because that was not just insulting to Frisk, but all of monsterkind. Frisk took a deep breath, trying to recompose themselves much like they were about to enter a political debate. Even as they knocked on the door, their hands continued to shake in anger and shock. They could not believe they were doing this, that they had to do this.

Anything for Azzy, they thought.

Surprisingly, the door was opened only shortly after Frisk had knocked on it. Behind the door, a woman with fire-orange hair, a chubby figure, and a round face with glasses appeared. This time Frisk recognized the woman all too well, and their hands continued to shake, requiring Frisk to hide them behind their back.

“Oh, Frisk!” Gillian exclaimed. She looked nervous suddenly, but she also tried to put a smile on her face.

“Hello Gillian,” Frisk greeted monotonously. “I need to talk to you.”

“Oh? You need to talk to me? Don’t you mean you want to talk to me? I mean there is so much we haven’t caught up on and-”

“Cut the bullshit Gil, you know exactly what I mean.” Frisk tried their best to talk in their no-nonsense voice, but even just being in Gillian’s presence was pissing them off. They were surprised really, as they hadn’t felt this way since they first went to Russia and had to encounter the president there. Thankfully, Frisk wasn’t dealing with a political power this time, so surely it was going to be easy.

Gillian fell silent after Frisk’s interruption, staring at the ground, her eyes hidden from Frisk. Frisk was about to speak again, but then Gillian looked up at them again. She smiled, but the smile looked force and uneasy. It reminded them of the malicious grin they saw in visions of Chara when Frisk went genocidal. This wasn’t improving Frisk’s mood at all.

“Frisk, I really have no idea what you’re talking about.” She claimed.

Frisk let out an impatient huff. “Gillian, you were at Mettaton’s party last week, right?”

“Y-yes, why?”

“So I assume you saw what Asriel did to me?”

Gillian gave a small gulp, but continued to try to smile. “Y-yeah, but I swear I didn’t tell anyone!”

“I didn’t even ask if you did.” Frisk said with a smirk.

Gillian realized her fuck up, and her smile disappeared. She went back to staring at the ground, as if she was contemplating something. Frisk noticed her arm hiding behind the wall shuffling about, but before they could ask, Gillian began laughing. It started as a small chuckle, but soon it turned into a full on maniacal laugh. Frisk backed up slightly, feeling very uneasy all of a sudden. Once Gillian was done, they looked at Frisk again with daggers in their eyes.

“Yeah, I told people about you two.” Gillian hissed. “I told them all about what happened, about how your ‘brother’ tried to hook up with you at the party, about how you apparently have personal reasons to support monsters. I told EVERYONE!”

Frisk gasped. They weren’t sure whether Gillian was lying or not about telling everyone, but they at least had them admit to telling the people at Tutoriel High. The anger was now boiling in Frisk, unable to believe someone they had considered their best friend would do something like this to them.

“Why?” Frisk asked through gritted teeth.

“Cause you are all fucked up.” Gillian replied laughing. “Monsters are so fucked up. I mean, they just come out of the ground one day and just EXPECT equality? They have the power to obliterate us using magic, a thing we were always told was fictional! Yet they don’t, as if not doing so will make them actually accepted into society. What a fucking joke.”

Frisk was legitimately close to just punching Gillian, but they knew that wouldn’t do anything but cause more trouble. They had trouble seeing anything but red as Gillian continued to laugh evilly. Frisk was near their breaking point, their whole body vibrating in rage and disgust. They needed to end this conversation quick before they did something they regretted.

“Gillian, you really are a horrible human.” Frisk hissed. “Consider us friends no more. I don’t want anything to do with you ever again.”

As Frisk turned around, they heard something slide, followed by Gillian saying “Big fucking mistake, mogger fucker.”

Frisk barely turned back around when Gillian lunged at them, a big, shiny, silver knife in their hand. Frisk was knocked to the ground as Gillian landed on top of them, using her weight as an advantage and pinning Frisk’s arms to the ground. She then dug her knees into their shoulders, making Frisk scream in agony. The screaming was cut short as Gillian placed her free hand on their mouth and stared evilly at them.

Frisk became paralyzed with fear. They stopped screaming as a vision formed around Gillian, the girl transforming into something else. Suddenly, all Frisk heard were slashes of a knife, yelps of pain from all directions, and saw dust raining from the sky. Where Gillian was now sat an 11-year old human, their skin like Frisk’s, and their shirt blue with a magenta stripe. Their eyes were not that of a human however; they were glowing red like the devil.

“You really are fucked up, both you and your ‘brother.” Gillian cackled. “I mean, humans and monsters? Together? Romantically? God, I don’t even want to know what fucking monstrosities would even come out of that. What do you think?”

Gillian stared into Frisk’s eyes. They were filled with shock and fear, and Gillian could feel them breathe rapidly through her hand. To many it would’ve felt weird, but Gillian couldn't help but shake in excitement at Frisk’s hot breath on their fingers. She laughed loudly.

“Look at you, the big ambassador of monsters, being murdered by a lowly human. God, this is too easy.” Gillian snarled in glee. “If it’s this easy to immobilize you, I’m surprised no other asshole did it in the past five years. Well, as much fun as it is toying with you, I think it's time for you to leave this world permanently. Goodbye you bitch!”

The figure in Frisk’s vision lifted the knife above their head. Their eyes became simple red pupils, and a creepy smile crawled across their face. There was no remorse, no hesitation, no pain. It was just a simple smile, and Frisk knew that smile. They tried telling themselves this was an illusion and that if they don’t act now, they’re going to die. Unfortunately, the knife came raining down, and Frisk closed their eyes, awaiting their death.

…

But nothing happened.

Frisk could still feel both the pressure in and on their chest, as well as their rapid breathing. They immediately ruled out the possibility they were dead and dared to open an eye. Thankfully, they no longer saw the horrible flashback of them murdering their friends and family. Instead, they saw Gillian, frozen in place with the knife just inches above Frisk’s chest, a blue glow surrounding her. Her soul also made an appearance, its shape deformed and its color blue.

“I think that’s enough.” Said a voice behind the humans. Gillian was suddenly thrown backwards, the knife flying towards the street and landing on the asphalt with a clink. The girl landed with her own noises of discomfort, but none seemed too serious. With the pressure keeping them down out of the way, Frisk lifted their body up. Their arms were shaking, barely able to keep their body propped up as they turned around.

Beside a nearby tree, Sans stood. His left eye was flaming cyan blue, and his arm was extended towards the humans. Frisk tried to relax at seeing their close friend, but quick glimpses of their earlier flashback kept them tense, as well as new ones at seeing Sans use his magic. Instead, they just flopped back onto the ground, still conscious, but incredibly exhausted and nervous. Sans cautiously walked towards them, his hand still keeping Gillian grounded.

“So, you're the girl who made the kid and the kid get in trouble?” Sans prompted. “Big mistake. Don’t you know how to mind other’s business? Of course, anything that involves the life of our ambassador is always my business, so the whole threatening to kill them thing is going to have to stop.”

Sans released Gillian enough to allow her to sit up, but his magic still kept her hands from moving off the ground. She looked at the skeleton, a fiery mix of hate, anger, and fear in her eyes. Her mouth dropped to a frown momentarily, only to curl into a grin shortly after. Gillian began to laugh again, loud and malicious. Sans’ eye flared more.

“Oh, isn’t that sweet?” Gillian snarled. “You have to get your mogger ‘uncle’ to save you. God, all of you are pathetic. Don’t you know if you do anything to harm me, I can sue you for breaking all those ‘peace’ laws you’ve been trying to enforce?”

“Oh darling, that’s the least of your worries.” A second unknown voice jeered. Frisk didn’t even have to look up for this one, as they recognized that robotic sexy voice anywhere. Even Gillian knew exactly who was talking, and the grin she had disappeared. From behind the same tree Sans was by, Mettaton strolled out with a polaroid in hand.

“Oh yeah? And what do you think you can do?” Gillian spat.

“It’s quite simple really.” Mettaton said. “You see this photo? It’s a photo of you about to stab poor Frisk in broad daylight. Now, what would happen to you if this got out to the public? Surely you don’t want everyone to know you’re crazy.”

Gillian looked unconvinced. “You’re lying.”

“Am I?” Mettaton sauntered over to the stunned girl, presenting the photo to her. Sure enough, it was a picture of Gillian on top of Frisk, the knife raised above her head, murderous intent in her eyes.

“Now you may go around saying that we’re lying and that this photo is fake, but who are they going to believe? A normal human girl, or the most popular monster in the world?”

Gillian stared at the photo. She couldn’t believe that everything was going so well, only to be ruined by her one enemy. Finally, she sighed.

“Fine, you win.” She stated. She then stared directly at Frisk. “But mark my words, Frisk. I will get what I want, and you will fail to bring equality between monsters and humans. Even if it takes years, I will stop you.”

Frisk flinched, still recovering from the attack. Sans glared at Gillian, tempted to slam her against the ground or to kill her there with one of his bone attacks. However, he instead lifted her off the ground and set her by the door to the house. He then released her and made his way over to Frisk, helping them to stand up.

“How’re you holding up, kid?” Sans whispered.

“M-m-my sh-sh…” Frisk couldn’t finish their sentence, the adrenaline and shock keeping them from fully functioning. Sans decided not to push them for more.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you home.” Sans then looked back at Gillian. “If you keep going down the path you’re going, then little girl… you’re going to have a bad time.”

Frisk whimpered at the threat, but Gillian seemed unaffected. Instead, she walked inside and slammed the door, leaving big knife in the street. Once she was gone, Mettaton made his way over the Sans and Frisk.

“Well, I never thought I’d meet such a vile human.” Mettaton grumbled. “I believe it’s best we get out of here before more trouble occurs. Sans, be a dear and drop me off at my mansion after we drop Frisk off?”

“Ok.” Sans answered.

---

As Mettaton went downstairs to talk to Toriel and Asgore, Sans led Frisk into their bedroom. Frisk was still horribly shaken up from the events that just happened, still unable to fully speak and their body still shaking. As gently as he could, Sans placed them in their bed and tucked them in, bringing several plushies that were scattered around the room to them. In case those weren’t enough, Sans heard the door suddenly slam open as Asriel barged in in a panic.

“Frisk!” He gasped. “I just heard from Mettaton, are you ok? Are you hurt? I should’ve gone with you so I could’ve made sure she didn’t touch you god I’m sorry I-”

Sans quickly magicked Asriel’s mouth shut before he continued to ramble.

“Hush kid, we don’t need anymore excitement.” Sans warned, releasing the bind shortly after. “It’s alright. Some human just tried to kill our ambassador, so I took care of them.”

Asriel’s eyes widened at Sans’ nonchalant statement and the panic in his chest began to increase. “Y-you don’t mean you…?”

To both monsters’ surprise, it was Frisk who actually answered the question. “N-no… H-h-he d-did-dn’t.”

Asriel sighed in relief, walking over to Frisk’s side. “I-I’m glad to see they’re safe. I-I don’t know w-what I would’ve done if they had died there.”

“Who knows? Anyways, I gotta take Metta home as well. Kids, try to avoid getting frisky, alright?”

Asriel rolled his eyes. “Out, Sans.”

Chuckling, Sans made his way out of the room, leaving Frisk and Asriel alone again. Asriel gently made his way into the bed with Frisk, gently holding them from behind as he kissed the back of their neck. He could still feel them trembling, but it seemed their breathing was thankfully slowing down. He continued to give them gentle kisses as he hummed a gentle song. Frisk began to feel better, the memory of Gillian’s attack being pushed to the back of their mind, and their boyfriend becoming their main focus. After a few minutes, they could finally speak properly.

“Thank you, Asriel.” Frisk whispered. “You always did know how to make me feel better, even in the worst of attacks.”

“Anything for you Frisky.” Asriel replied tearfully. “I love you too much to let you suffer.”

Frisk flipped around, now facing Asriel, and kissed him on the lips. The pair closed their eyes as their mouths flushed against each other, their tongues dancing in the middle. The simple joy of being able to have someone here to share their affections with was all Frisk needed to feel like the luckiest ambassador in the world. They couldn’t imagine where they would be without Asriel.

Frisk sighed as they broke apart. “This is both the best and the worst vacation ever.”

This elicited some laughs from Asriel. “Yeah, I agree with that.”

The two just stayed there, cuddling each other and forgetting about everything else. They didn’t even consider getting up and doing something, they just stayed there in each other’s warm embraces. It wasn’t until someone knocked on the door did they fall out of their trance.

“Pardon me, Frisk?” Asgore said from the other side.

“Come on in.” They replied.

Asgore walked in, blushing a bit as he saw his children laying in the bed together. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything, but I got some exciting news.”

Frisk sat up and looked at their father. “Yes?”

“The mayor accepted your request for a public speech, scheduled this Sunday!”

“Really?” Frisk gasped, jumping out of bed, no noticeable trace of their previous state. They ran up and hugged Asgore, who returned it gently.

“Thank you dad! How did you convince her?”

“Well you know the mayor, she always does have a soft spot for you.” Asgore replied chuckling.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Asriel asked, raising an eyebrow.

Frisk turned to their boyfriend, smiling wide and making his stomach flutter a bit. “I asked dad if he could convince Mayor Downe to let me give a speech to the entire town about romantic human-monster relationships. I figured if our secret’s out, we might as well try to get these laws passed, starting with our town and moving up from there.”

“Oh! That’s awesome!” Asriel himself then got up and hugged both of them. He couldn’t help but feel a little proud at how Frisk turned a really bad situation in their favor. It was like they were made for politics, and Asriel wouldn’t want them any other way.

“C’mon Az,” Frisk said once they broke apart. “Let’s start writing the first draft.”

“Heck yeah!”

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chom-raaa · 8 years

Text

A long winding commentary on Home is Where the Heart Is Ch14 (by setosdarkness)

@athina39 whoops this got really out of hand…

This week a lot of my favorites fics have updated and I’m like hmmm HIWTHI will probably update any time now. I have zero self-control when I read this fic, so I spent my whole break, and most of my commute reading. And most of my evening to write this because I did not expect it to be so big (^v ^;)

“…I could hear the number of exclamation points on that. Is that not acceptable?” Tachihara is so adorable, and I love how he’s similar to Atsushi when it comes to Akutagawa, and how Chuuya learned “life skills” from Atsushi lolololololol!! But dammit Chuuya, so clueless, thinking that Tachihara is “such a nice guy” and a “great kouhai” even though he’s acting like Atsushi, even though he knows Atsushi is madly in love. But then I guess Chuuya doesn’t see why someone would love him Q.Q Also, I like the mention of how Chuuya could predict Tachihara’s response “even if he doesn’t have Flawless.” The way flawless and Oda just kind of slip into his thought process kajsdhfajks

I love how Chuuya’s apartment has become all colorful and vibrant with flowers and nice things jdaklhfdkjadshf and DAZAI IS JUST A PART OF IT!!!!

And when the waitress was smiling at Chuuya for dabbing his napkin at Tachihara’s face and he assumes it means she’s approving of that “normal action”, because he thinks it’s normal when Dazai does it. Because apparently he’s not anything special to Dazai so what Dazai does with him is normal, not anything particularly special CHUUYA PLEASE

Also I think everyone reading this fic has adopted Higuchi’s dying seal sound *nods*

Chuuya’s still concerned about his little outing with Dazai after his date awwwwwwww

Dazai knowing Chuuya’s schedule better than him, making all these arrangements for him (“blackout curtains and the hypoallergenic bedding” whooooa), practically managing his life for him what a waifu <3 I also love the thing where Chuuya throws forks and knives at Dazai who effortlessly deflects all the attacks with a spoon, how married they are *Higuchi squealing noises*</p>

YURI ON ICE. YURI ON ICE. That’s all I’m gonna say.

I love love love how Chuuya goes to pray for Dazai’s safety while Tachihara wondered if he was planning sea travel and how it mirrors one of the previous chapters and aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh

ANGST RANT #1

Chuuya feels left out of the loop because all these things are happening without him: everyone on some secret assignment and apparently it’s not important that he knows. “He—he’s useless when it comes to strategies and planning.” And he’s just trying to justify all of it, because he’s just not good enough to be included or something like that (but no Chuuya you’re such a good boss!!!!)

Moving on to Chuuya’s expectations. He can’t seem to expect anything good from Dazai and even when good things happen he just assumes it’s temporary and something else is coming later (poor baby).

“I try not to expect Dazai’s good behavior whenever possible” Because Dazai let him down too many times Q.Q

And how he just savors every moment they have together because who knows when it will all just come to abrupt halt?? Like that scene where Dazai booked a room with only one bed and he just enjoys the moment because “after all, once Dazai decides that he’d like to leave again, there will be no repeat performances of this comforting closeness anymore”. And when they screw up the ice skating tournament and it was all such a mess but Chuuya saw it as “a chance to dance that closely, intimately, with Dazai, but that’s neither here nor there”. He perceives it as a “chance”, an opportunity, something good that he wants to hold on to. Despite being so involved in each others’ lives it’s like Chuuya is falling the whole time and bracing for impact, preparing himself for the worst, but then it’s only natural.

And once again with how Chuuya rationalizing Dazai’s behavior. “Dazai laughs - but it’s soft instead of grating. Though that’s probably because…” and there’s always a reason because it simply CANNOT be what he wants it to be. All the excuses are better than making assumptions, because look where that got him in the past.

Poor Chuuya just avoiding the route with the greatest potential of pain QAQ It’s so sad that someone who usually takes things head-on would distort his thoughts ignore some really obvious signs because it’s brought him so much pain.

When Dazai talks about them spending the next New Year’s together “Chuuya smiles, because that kind of promise is nice, but ultimately means nothing. It’s nice, if only in this moment though.” OMG he wants this so bad but he’s so resigned to the fact that Dazai’s just going leave at some point alksdjalksdjf

I love the texts Chuuya gets from everyone. I love how distinct their voices are <3 Atsushi freaking about chazuke, Aku thanking Chuuya for helping him make chazuke (gimme all the akuatsuuuu). Aku warning Chuuya about Dazai, I just love the way he talks about Dazai now go Aku!! Yosano and Kouyou? Ranpo wants to give Poe gifts akjsdfhkajdshf! </p>

Some notes on Dazai: “Does that guy need anything aside from your company anyway?” *more dying seal noises* I just love the way Steinbeck says that like it’s common sense and that the oh-so-tricky Dazai is so obvious and predictable in his affections. And Dazai always replying to texts if they’re from Chuuya, trying to be there in his own way I guess *cheering Dazai on*

“I am helpless against your beauty and I’ll need your company to cure me of this lovesickness” OMG I almost died of laughter (maybe we all kind of have that feeling for Chuuya tho), but then I read the next part where Chuuya thinks it’s some kind of code and then later: “Did you just fucking imply that my looks made you sick?!” aaahahahahahaha I’m dead XD

ATUSUSHI SASS APPRECIATION

“Ah, so the man-tiger really sounds threatening when said by mafia members. I thought it was just Akutagawa.”

“Do you really want to know what i call him, Chuuya-san?” I love Atsu’s not-so-innocent side

And when Chuuya denies missing Dazai and Atsu’s all like"Are you excited about Fukuzawa’s return then?“ LOLOL

Aku’s "I’m going to the hospital” comment. Period.

ANGST RANT #2

OK so the mistletoe, which has all sorts of romantic connotation and stuff, sacred plant of a goddess of love, all magical and etc etc, but then Chuuya says “Mistletoe are parasites, pests….They…kill trees. And stuff” as if he’s talking about how loving Dazai was killing him.

And before they have their indirect “kiss” there’s “Because things have ultimately not changed, have they? They can’t change–because that would mean—“ and he’s just not ready to accept that yet. Not an actual kiss. Puh-lease.

Back to my earlier point on Chuuya anticipating loss and disappointment; he knows he wants this with Dazai, he slowed down all of those moments he had to be close to him, but he just can’t see a happy ending. And Dazai just kind of confirms it too, telling Chuuya he’s going to Russia with Mori and Fukuzawa last minute and leaving just like that. Not really telling him the details of his mission.

And “Dazai siphons the life out of him, leaving him with work, work, work. It’s just like before, only with more phone contacts and more Facebook friends, this time. He wonders if he should feel happy for expecting this all along.” Draining him LIKE THE DAMN MISTLETOE.

Dazai not telling Chuuya that he’s really moved in with him. How Atsushi knows, everyone knows, but not Chuuya. Once again left out of the loop.

ANGST RANT #3

“Dazai claimed to never lie on negotiations and what happened back then–was a negotiation, nothing else……Dazai Osamu is a fucking liar” The way he rejects Dazai’s confession, the way he’s forced himself to see their relationships ajkdfhajksdhfkajsh

“Chuuya’s heart beats staccato beats of misery and hurt, as he watches Dazai’s face remain impassive, in control. He hates it.” This contrast between Chuuya’s turmoil and Dazai’s perceived calmness, Dazai sort of making his decisions for him, running him in circles just because he could predict his reactions. How frustrating, how unfair. The table flip was so impactful in this scene. How can he struggle for autonomy against someone who can grasp everything in the palm of his hand?

Dazai’s trying to be careful but his lack of transparency is one of their biggest problems, way to go Dazai. Just because you know he’s going to reject you doesn’t mean that you can just hide things and not let him do it. Let this poor man decide T.T I do acknowledge his effort though.

Chuuya’s three years of trying to be normal falling apart, I love how he corrected it to eight years, because he’s been struggling for so much longer.

(Mori asking Dazai to be the PM’s new Boss? Ouch, OUCH)

“’And I’m just the sharpest tool in your box.’” He’s been holding that one in hasn’t he? The way Dazai was his world while to Dazai he was just an object to be used.

And holy shit Dazai, telling Chuuya that they can’t have normal things because they’re monsters. Chuuya’s been struggling so long to find self-worth, to finally deserve to live among normal people…I would imagine that he would have these feelings for sure, being such a kind person doing such wicked things, but then it was because DAZAI was the one who said it, who invalidated his feelings, that hurt him the most. *sobbing*

Chuuya’s actually crying now, finally falling apart after keeping it together for so long, but Dazai can’t just kiss those tears away now like he did after his nightmare. Because all of those insecurities and scars are coming right back to reality now.

“Eight years ago and Chuuya would have carved out his own, beating heart, the moment Dazai said that it’s part of the plan.” The way this was written, from the wording to the buildup from the previous paragraphs, was so raw and painful I had to stop reading for a moment because sweet Mother Theresa on the hood of a Mercedes Benz Chuuya needs so much love.

He wants proof, perfectly acceptable because there is overwhelming evidence of Dazai hurting Chuuya. The little bits of him caring for Chuuya are overshadowed by Chuuya’s Dazai-is-pain-I-can’t-come-close-or-I-won’t-be-able-to-bounce-back-again mode. Especially when Dazai is STILL hiding things from him. Still making his choices for him. And despite all of his efforts he feels as if nothing’s changed. Dazai’s still lying, he can’t be normal, can’t escape from the past, “He’s the only one truly disgraced here, tainted with darkness, tainted with the budding light of hope that will never fully bloom.”

Dazai asking for him to just believe even if there’s no proof is outrageous at this point.

But then akjdhfaksjhfaksjadfh Dazai’s all desperate and just pleading for him not to push him away how heartbreaking.

They’re going to need a catalyst to get back together right? Please send help!

Thanks so much for this wonderful update!! So intense adfasajkfhaskjhdjk, I can’t wait to see how the characters handle this. (I did not proofread my comment so sorry if I rambled too much)

#bsd #soukoku #fic #commentary #review #chomra blabs #oh no this got way out of hand

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theoptimisticpatriot · 4 years

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Covid, the nation, and the left

As we work to shape the ‘new normal’, the left must be the voice of those who kept the nation going during these difficult times, and must condemn those who pursued their own interests. (Posted on Policy Network, 9.9.20)

It’s a paradox that the global health and economic disaster of COVID-19 is being understood as a series of national experiences. A disease that is killing people everywhere is judged more by its impact on individual countries than by its toll on humanity as a whole. When political systems and institutions come under stress they reveal a great deal about the deepest and most visceral instincts of the public and politicians. The response to COVID-19 leaves no doubt that it is the nation, and not internationalism, to which most turn. We expect our national governments, not our international institutions, to lead even in response to the most internationalised crisis for 80 years. Publics have looked to national leaders to deliver on public health, oversee prudent lockdowns (and relaxation), sustain health and care services, to control borders, and to foster economic recovery. We may look at what others are doing but haven’t wanted to be coordinated by or with others if it does not suit our national circumstances.

The left cannot ignore this primacy of the nation. It won’t go away once the ‘new normal’ is established, whenever that may be. Any hopes that the shock of COVID-19 will give impetus to the urgent measures needed to avert climate disaster or reshape our economies rest on the left’s ability to get progressive national politics right. Of course, the weakness of international cooperation is a disaster. We are suffering through the worst leaders of major powers in many generations. The malign incompetence of President Trump and the aggressive and illiberal assertion of Chinese power under President Xi provide an umbrella under which a host of ‘mini-me populists’ govern the likes of Russia, Turkey, Hungary and many other places besides. International cooperation is undermined and the UN side-lined. Even the EU which stands out as a better managed international organisation than most, and which broke new ground in its financial support package, has struggled to lead the COVID-19 response within Europe let alone outside.

International institutions will have to be rebuilt but this can’t happen without a foundation of nations that are themselves self-confident and cohesive. The generation of political leaders who might renew internationalism will come from those who are successful in rooting progressive politics in their own nation, not from those who look to internationalism to solve problems that have been neglected at home.

I write from Britain and with an English perspective. Our domestic politics are shaped by the relative autonomy of devolved national governments and the constitutional anomaly whereby England has no domestic administration but is run by the UK government. England’s disastrous record under COVID-19, with the highest excess death rate in Europe, inevitably colours my perspective. But so far as I can see, the importance of the national level applies to most European nations, however successfully or unsuccessfully they have responded, and to reflect the politics of America. COVID-19 may either cut across or reinforce existing political divisions in ways that are particular to each nation.

COVID-19’s political impact will go far beyond the reassertion of the national priority in politics. Because COVID-19 touches all our lives it will inevitably change the way that people view their nations. The importance of previously ‘taken for granted’ workers (not just in health and social care but in distribution, retail, basic environmental services, public transport workers – many of whom have suffered the highest death rates), has been brought home to the more comfortable parts of society. But this unifying impact is also undermined by the extent to which it highlights inequalities in relation to health status, job security, housing adequacy, migration status, and ethnicity. The COVID-19 response has exposed the (in)competence of administrations and technocracies and the inadequacies of social welfare systems and has either built or eroded trust in politicians and political systems depending on how public policy responses played out for people.

How well we have sustained our compliance with lockdown measures provides a test of our social cohesion, and highlights some of the areas where things are beginning to fray. Nations that seemed to pull together three months ago may still yet divide fractiously between young and old, urban and rural, and majority and minority communities.

The left’s response faces many challenges. If we treats COVID-19 simply as an apolitical technocratic issue that simply requires sound policy responses, we will play into the hands of those who want to defend the status quo. Political leaders like Boris Johnson in the UK will wash their hands of governmental failings or the fissures in our nations and be quick to claim, ‘we were all in it together and we came through it together’.

On the other hand, a progressive agenda requires careful construction. Within weeks of the pandemic striking progressive websites were full of blogs explaining why ‘things must never be the same again’. The harsh mirror that COVID-19 has held up to our nations has reinforced the left’s belief that this must be a turning point moment that shifts our economics and societies towards sustainability and equity. But to make that happen the left must win in nations where it currently lacks power or popular support. In 2008, when the left was more widely in power than it is today, the banking crisis did not trigger the left turn that was widely anticipated. (It informed much of the thinking of Labour leader Ed Miliband, for example). Instead it exposed the widespread weakness of the left and saw the rise of national populism. Even though many voters were well aware that the banks had been rescued at the cost of the majority, much of the left was deaf to popular concerns around the political marginalisation of working class communities, the impact of migration, and the remoteness of the political class. The growing gap between the more middle class and cosmopolitan base of the left and much of its traditional electorate became clear.

Today’s radical voices for change face the the same constraints. Telling each other that COVID-19 proves that we’ve always been right about capitalism is not a political strategy. In many ways the global left has become more interconnected than ever before while becoming less well-integrated in its own national politics. Events in US politics often prompt a more excited response in the European left than issues in domestic national politics. In the UK demands to ‘de-fund’ the police suddenly gained support from a metropolitan left that just a few months before was supporting Corbyn’s demand for 10,000 more police officers. The proposal for a new ‘Green New Deal’ generates more excitement when proposed by radical US Democrats than it did when put forward nearly ten years ago by Ed Miliband. There is a real danger that a homogenised international left agenda gets in the way of a genuinely rooted left response to the particular problems of each nation.

The left’s support is weak in those sections of society that have been hit hardest by the pandemic and its aftermath. For many of those people the fastest route to recovery will appear to be the restoration of the economy to the way that it was before, with its full carbon intensity, consumption and waste. In the maw of a global recession, it is understandable why people would focus on ‘getting back to normal’ rather than on any radical new way of ordering society and of doing business. Indeed, this ‘conservatism’ is not reactionary but is to be expected, given the very immediate impacts of crisis.

Progressives need a clear explanation of where the existing structures of government and institutions of economic power succeeded and where they failed. We will need to draw a distinction between how the people have responded with solidarity and discipline and the failures of those in power, between those who kept the nation going and those who pursued their own interests, and between the interests of the nation and governments whose corporate support outstripped the support for the vulnerable.

A progressive left strategy needs to be rooted in the experience of each nation. The left needs to tell a narrative about what happened, the impact it had on different sections of society, and what it told us about the nation we live in. Our critique needs to be focused, not generalised. It needs to draw the links between the problems that have been exposed and the wider public interest, for example: where food security depended on migrant workers, many of whom were living and working in unhealthy conditions; where the living standards of the poorest became a health threat to the wider public; and where online shopping giants have grown rich despite their continued dangerous exploitation of their staff.

But it needs to be a unifying story, rooted in the possibility of a better future for the majority. While the left must respond to both the disproportionate health impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities and the wider issues of racism highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement, our national stories must clearly embrace all those who have suffered the economic and social consequences of the crisis. In other words, the left’s narrative must be about the nation and engage with national identity. As we work to shape the ‘new normal’ is going to be, the left must be the voice of those who kept the nation going during these difficult times and must condemn those who pursued their own interests.

At the same time, we should also show that we understand why the desire for economic security may come ahead of demands for radical change and we must avoid substituting our agenda for theirs. In the short term we should concentrate on consolidating those changes – for example towards flexible working practices and building on the outburst of mutual aid and solidarity – that the pandemic has opened up and on winning effective responses to those facing unemployment or social exclusion as economies struggle to recover from recession. By winning trust with these foundational issues it will become easier to build an audience for the wider and more radical (and more internationalist) changes that are undoubtedly necessary in our modern world.

John Denham

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thisdaynews · 5 years

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‘Absolutely Unprecedented’: Why Japan’s Leader Tries So Hard to Court Trump

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/absolutely-unprecedented-why-japans-leader-tries-so-hard-to-court-trump/

‘Absolutely Unprecedented’: Why Japan’s Leader Tries So Hard to Court Trump

TOKYO—Flying nearly 7,000 miles is not President Donald Trump’s idea of a good time. But he departed for Japan on Friday giddily anticipating what he promised a day earlier would be “the biggest event they’ve had in over 200 years”: that is, his own meeting with the country’s new emperor.

While his hosts may not view Trump’s visit as quite so momentous, it isa crescendo in the remarkable campaign of flattery and cajoling waged by Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

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Trump had not yet been inaugurated when Abe hopped on a plane, uninvited, to meet with the president-elect at Trump Tower. Since then, Abe has golfed with Trump three times; visited Mar-a-Lago twice; gifted him a golf club worth nearly $3,800; dropped in on First Lady Melania Trump’s birthday dinner; and even, according to Trump himself, nominated Trump for a Nobel Prize. The two leaders have had 10 personal meetings and spoken 30 other times. “That is absolutely unprecedented,” says a senior Trump administration official. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Trump boasted that Abe had assured him of his state visit: “I am the guest, meaning the United States is the guest, but Prime Minister Abe said to me, very specifically, ‘You are the guest of honor. There’s only one guest of honor.’”

The Japanese media has taken copious note of the camaraderie. A Friday article in theJapan Timesnoted that on his last trip to Washington, Abe “was even offered the use of Trump’s personal restroom in the White House.”

Abe no doubt appreciates the bathroom privileges. But his relentless courtship of Trump seems—to say the least—off-brand for a leader who came to power by presenting himself as a resolute nationalist, retailing a vision of a strong Japan more than any leader in decades.. Prostrating himself before Trump has put him in an awkward position. Trump is personally unpopular in Japan, and even apart from that, no one likes to see Japan’s prime minister bend his behavior, or travel schedule, around other leaders. “The Japanese public does not like our leader to entertain another country’s leader,” said Koji Murata, a professor of political science at Doshisha University in Kyoto.

So why the desperate overtures to the U.S. president? To understand Abe’s surprising relationship to Trump is to understand the deep insecurity that has developed in Japan in recent years. With its once-powerhouse economy long-stagnant,the world-historical rise of China, which Japan’s imperial army badly abused during the war, has stoked deep alarm. North Korea continues to develop nuclear weapons and missiles capable of delivering them to Japan—and relations with South Korea, the regional power best positioned to help Tokyo counterbalance these threats, are at their lowest point in many years. Even Russia harasses Japanese airspace as part of a dispute over contested northern islands.

Trump has only made this situation more precarious for Abe and his compatriots. With its pacifist constitution and a military far smaller than its status as the world’s third-largest economy would imply, Japan needs America’s protection—and finds itself staring across the Pacific at an erratic partner easily dismissive of longtime global commitments. The fear that the U.S.-Japan alliance could be in jeopardy was one I heard from numerous government officials and academics I met during a weeklong visit to Japan earlier this year. And, they say, Abe will do what he must to maintain it, whatever the cost to his personal pride.

“People in Japan understand that Mr. Trump is quite unpredictable, and that we need to treat him in a different way,” said Murata.

“They need the relationship for their own protection,” adds Jeffrey Prescott, a former Obama White House national security council aide who served as senior Asia adviser to former Vice President Joe Biden. “They’re worried about being caught out in the cold.”

***

When Abe visited the U.S. last year,Trump startled him with a blunt historical reference: “I remember Pearl Harbor,” Trump cracked, reportedly launching into a complaint about Japan’s economic policies. However impolitic his remark may have been, Trump is right to think that World War II continues to rule America’s relationship with Japan. But a more defining moment than the 1941 surprise attack on America’s Pacific fleet is what happened four years later in Hiroshima, when the U.S. punctuated the final days of the war by dropping an atomic bomb on the city, raising ground temperatures nearby to 5,000 degrees and instantly killing up to 80,000 people.

Today, the modest port city, also known for baseball and its symphony orchestra, has become a living monument to the horror of war, and also a place to contemplate the oddity of Japan’s continued dependency on the country that crushed it in anger nearly 75 years ago. Nine days after the blast, and after the U.S. dropped another atomic bomb, this time on Nagasaki, Emperor Hirohito—whose grandson, Naruhito, Trump will visit in Tokyo on Monday—announced his country’s unconditional surrender to America. Thus began a long and fraught dependency that continues to this day.

It was an incredible twist of history when the conquered nation, emerging from a fascist nightmare, actually welcomed its new occupiers after the war. “The Americans arrived anticipating, many of them, a traumatic confrontation with fanatical emperor worshippers. They were accosted instead by women who called ‘yoo hoo’ to the first troops landing on the beaches in full battle gear, and men who bowed and asked what their conquerors wished,” writes John W. Dower in his Pulitzer Prize-wining history of postwar Japan,Embracing Defeat. William Manchester’s epic biography of Douglas MacArthur recounts the moment one of the general’s aides first stepped off a plane in a freshly-defeated Japan, which MacArther was tasked with running and rebuilding after the war: “Instantly, a mob of howling Japanese headed for him. He was reaching for his weapon when they braked to a halt, bowed, smiled, and offered him a cup of orangeade.”

Those events occurred a few months before Trump was born, so he does not actually “remember” any of them. But even though Japan has been remade since, it remains conspicuously eager to please American leaders. In large measure that is because Japan cannot properly defend itself. After World War II, Japan was demilitarized to prevent a repeat of the fascist militarism that led to its brutal conquest of much of East Asia. The U.S. oversaw the adoption of a peace constitution prohibiting a standing military—Japan technically maintains modest “self-defense forces”—and declaring that its people “forever renounce war” and “the threat or use of force as a means of settling disputes.” And in the only country to experience an atomic attack, nuclear weapons have been out of the question. Conveniently, the U.S. was happy to station troops in the country as a way of projecting power into the Asia-Pacific region, first as a check against the Soviet Union and more recently against China. America has also explicitly covered Japan with its “nuclear umbrella,” shielding it from attack with the ultimate form of deterrence.

For several decades, the arrangement made sense for a Japan that faced few credible military threats. But the 21st century has changed past assumptions with startling speed.China’s explosion of growth has led to alarming new territorial claims; Tokyo’s historic rival, which Japan raped and pillaged in the 1930s and 1940s, now has a defense budget about 10 times larger than Japan’s. Meanwhile, North Korea, whose state media has branded Abe an “Asian Hitler” has developed a large nuclear arsenal and ever-more sophisticated missiles, which it sometimes fires over Japan’s territory.

Japan’s relations with South Korea,an important political and economic power, are also at what regional experts call a 50-year low, poisoned by an ongoing dispute over what Japan owes to forced laborers and so-called “comfort women” during its wartime occupation of the Korean peninsula. Japan was scandalized in February when a South Korean legislator referred to Japan’s then-emperor, since succeeded by Naruhito, as the son of a war criminal. (One long-term nightmare here: a unified, hostile Korea.) Even relations with Russia are tense, also thanks to the legacy of World War II, in the form of a territorial dispute over remote islands most of the world has never heard of; a Japanese legislator was recently expelled from the country’s Diet after suggesting (albeit drunkenly) that war with Russia might be necessary to reclaim them.

In sum, Japan looks around and sees enemies and rivals that recall brutal Japanese occupation, and too few close friends. That leaves it as dependent on the U.S. as it has been in years.

At the same time, it is as worried as it’s ever been about whether America can be relied upon. In the Trump era, the U.S. has become inscrutable, unpredictable and potentially unreliable.

People here are keenly aware of Trump’s complaints about the cost of American bases overseas and his questions about long-standing alliances. “We’re basically protecting Japan,” Trump said as a candidate. “If we’re attacked, they do not have to come to our defense. If they’re attacked, we have to come totally to their defense. And … that’s a real problem.” Trump hasn’t spoken that way in a while, but Japanese officials have watched his continued skepticism about the costs and mission of the NATO alliance, and ongoing complaints about the expense of maintaining U.S. troops in South Korea, with great unease. In meetings with diplomats and military strategists, most of whom would only speak off the record, I was told repeatedly that a scaled back U.S. presence in Asia, perhaps as a concession in a nuclear deal with North Korea, would be a “disaster” or “nightmare.” Never mind the 50,000 troops now stationed in Japan itself.

Japan isn’t totally defenseless without its American military bodyguard.Thanks to China’s muscle-flexing, the passage of time and Abe’s nationalistic leadership, Japan in recent years has gradually been expanding its military’s size and legal capabilities. Trump officials, more than Obama ones before them, have wholeheartedly embraced the shift, which Trump will implicitly endorse this weekend when he visits a Japanese navy helicopter carrier set for an upgrade that will allow it to carry advanced American-made F-35B fighter jets.

But Japan also needs American in other ways.Its diplomats have urged the U.S. to help mediate its dispute with South Korea—though to little avail. (“In somewhat more normal times,” says Mike Green, a former top Asia official in the George W. Bush White House now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a big question around Trump’s trip would be, “What is the administration doing to patch up ties between our two closest allies, whose fight is weakening our position in Asia?”) Meanwhile Japan’s huge but deeply troubled economy, which struggles with slow growth and an aging population, is highly vulnerable to Trump’s whims on tariffs.

That’s why it’s a coup for Abe and Japan that Trump, who does not love long trips, has made the 14-hour flight to become the first foreign leader to meet the country’s newly-enthroned emperor. In recent public remarks, Trump has demonstrated only a vague understanding of the honor, while boasting that Abe has assured him it will be “100 times bigger” than the Super Bowl.

While there, Trump will award a specially-made trophy to the winner of a national sumo wrestling championship, for which he will be given a special chair in an area where even dignitaries typically sit on the floor, cross-legged, reportedly to the annoyance of some of the sport’s diehards. In a signal of U.S. military support, Trump will also deliver a speech at the U.S. Navy base at Yokosuka, in southern Japan.

Abe’s flatter-Trump campaign is more than a personal whim, it is the result of extensive analysis. “The Japanese have studied Trump as thoroughly as any government, probably in the world, to try to understand him, because the U.S.-Japan alliance is so critical,” says Green. But it has involved some cost at home. During my visit, the lead headline in theJapan Timesdescribed a “grilling” the prime minister had received in the Diet over Trump’s public claim a few days earlier that Abe had written “the most beautiful five-page letter” nominating him to the Nobel Prize committee for his nuclear diplomacy with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Abe couldn’t quite bring himself to confirm the notion, which seemed strange given that the talks had made little real progress, and that Abe had been a past skeptic of talking to Kim. “I’m not saying it’s untrue,” was all he would allow. According to theWashington Post, Abe has more than once been referred to as “poochi” in the country’s left-leaningAsahi Shimbunnewspaper.

Many Japanese officials argue, though, that Abe has made the best of an awkward situation. Trump has stopped complaining about America’s security agreement with Tokyo and—unlike the case of South Korea—hasn’t made references lately to the cost of stationing troops and equipment in Japan. Abe has helped explain to Trump how important American assets in Japan are to containing China; U.S. Navy patrols into the contested South China Sea often originate from the Japan’s Yokosuka base. Although Abe wasn’t able to prevent Trump from slapping tariffs on Japanese steel and aluminum exports, he has helped to delay potential U.S. tariffs on automobiles that Japanese officials say would create a crisis in their relationship with Washington.

Still, there is a sense of real disquiet here about what may lie ahead. One Japanese official told me that Trump is an effect, not a cause, of eroding American public support for overseas alliances and adventurism. Moreover, some Japanese worry that the character of the U.S. might be changing. Japan is coming to see America “rather differently,” said Ichiro Fujisaki, a former Japanese ambassador to Washington who now chairs the America-Japan Society in Tokyo. “The popularity of the U.S. is decreasing,” he said, as Japanese people see an erosion of “values, respect for international institutions, and commitment to allies.”

It is unclear whether Trump will know or care about such sentiments when he greets Emperor Naruhito on Monday. But it was those values that America spent decades instilling in Japan as the U.S. rebuilt the nation it had conquered after World War II. It was a process that began in earnest when the MacArthur, having arrived in Tokyo for what would be a seven-year term as its de facto viceroy, met with Hirohito for the first time. President Harry Truman and MacArthur had decided by then that the emperor had to be preserved to help earn the trust of the defeated Japanese people. But at that point, Hirohito wasn’t sure that MacArthur wouldn’t have him executed. MacArthur later recalled giving Hirohito an American cigarette, “which he took with thanks. I noticed how his hands shook as I lighted it for him. I tried to make it as easy for him as I could, but I knew how deep and dreadful must be his agony of humiliation.”

Trump will meets Hirohito’s grandson under dramatically different circumstances. It may be that, far from humiliation, Naruhito and Abe will enjoy a sense of triumph at how skillfully they are playing to the president’s vanity. But something essential about the relationship between the U.S. will be unchanged, one that will be a source of both comfort and insecurity here for the forseeable future.

“Japan is always under the influence of the U.S.,” Murara told me. “It is always treated to be the junior partner of the U.S.”

#Court #Foreign #Politics #Trump

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nancygduarteus · 6 years

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A Controversial Virus Study Reveals a Critical Flaw in How Science Is Done

Last year, the world learned that researchers led by David Evans from the University of Alberta had resurrected a virus called horsepox. The virus hasn’t been seen in nature for decades, but Evans’s team assembled it using genetic material that they ordered from a company that synthesizes DNA.

The work caused a huge stir. Horsepox is harmless to people, but its close cousin, smallpox, killed hundreds of millions before being eradicated in 1980. Only two stocks of smallpox remain, one held by Russia and the other by the U.S. But Evans’s critics argued that his work makes it easier for others to recreate smallpox themselves, and, whether through accident or malice, release it. That would be horrific: Few people today are immunized against smallpox, and vaccine reserves are limited. Several concerned parties wrote letters urging scientific journals not to publish the paper that described the work, but PLOS One did so in January.

This controversy is the latest chapter in an ongoing debate around “dual-use research of concern”—research that could clearly be applied for both good and ill. More than that, it reflects a vulnerability at the heart of modern science, where small groups of researchers and reviewers can make virtually unilateral decisions about experiments that have potentially global consequences, and that everyone else only learns about after the fact. Cue an endlessly looping GIF of Jurassic Park’s Ian Malcolm saying, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

Except Evans did think about whether he should, and clearly came down on yes. In one of several new opinion pieces that reflect on the controversy, he and his colleague Ryan Noyce argue that recreating horsepox has two benefits. First, Tonix, the company that funded the research, hopes to use horsepox as the basis of a safer smallpox vaccine, should that extinct threat ever be itself resurrected. Second, the research could help scientists to more efficiently repurpose poxviruses into vaccines against other diseases, or even weapons against cancer. (Evans politely declined a request for interview, noting that he’d “rather let [his] piece speak for itself.”)

Tom Inglesby, a health-security expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, doesn’t buy it. He says these purported benefits are hypothetical, and could be achieved in safer ways that don’t involve horsepox at all. Even if you want to use that particular virus, the CDC has specimens in its freezers; Evans didn’t ask for those because he thought Tonix couldn’t have commercialized the naturally occurring strain into a vaccine, according to reporting from NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce.

“I was a little surprised that the issue caused so much controversy,” says Gigi Gronvall, who has written extensively on biosecurity and also works at Johns Hopkins. Other researchers had already synthesized smaller viruses like polio, and bigger entities like bacteria; they’ve even made a start on far larger organisms like yeast. Given such milestones, one should just assume that all viruses are within reach—but only to those with the right expertise, equipment, and money. Evans didn’t just order horsepox in the mail; it took years to refine the process of making and assembling it. “It’s not like anybody could synthesize horsepox,” says Gronvall.

True, says Kevin Esvelt from MIT, but that feat is now technically easier because Evans’s paper spelled out several details of how to do so. It’s conceptually easier to weaponize because his paper explicitly connected the dots to smallpox. And it will become logistically easier to carry out with time, as the underlying tech becomes cheaper. “In the long run, I’m worried about the technology being accessible enough,” Esvelt says.

There are ways of mitigating that risk. Most groups can’t make DNA themselves, and must order sequences from companies. Esvelt thinks that all such orders should be screened against a database of problematic sequences, as a bulwark against experiments that are unknowingly or deliberately dangerous. Such screening already occurs, but only on a voluntary basis. A mandatory, universal process could work if publishers or funders boycott work that doesn’t abide by it, or if companies build the next generation of DNA synthesizers to lock if a screening step is fixed.

But these technological fixes do little to address the underlying debate about how society decides what kinds of experiments should be done in the first place, let alone published. Few countries have clear procedures for reviewing dual-use research. The U.S. has perhaps the strongest policy, but it still has several loopholes. It only covers 15 big, bad pathogens, and horsepox, though related to one, isn’t one itself. It also only covers federally funded research, and Evans’s research was privately funded. He did his work in Canada, but he could just as easily have done so in the U.S.

Absent clearer guidelines, the burden falls on the scientific enterprise to self-regulate—and it isn’t set up to do that well. Academia is intensely competitive, and “the drivers are about getting grants and publications, and not necessarily about being responsible citizens,” says Filippa Lentzos from Kings College London, who studies biological threats. This means that scientists often keep their work to themselves for fear of getting scooped by their peers. Their plans only become widely known once they’ve already been enacted, and the results are ready to be presented or published. This lack of transparency creates an environment where people can almost unilaterally make decisions that could affect the entire world.

Take the horsepox study. Evans was a member of a World Health Organization committee that oversees smallpox research, but only told his colleagues about the experiment after it was completed. He sought approval from biosafety officers at his university, and had discussions with Canadian federal agencies, but it’s unclear if they had enough ethical expertise to fully appreciate the significance of the experiment. “It’s hard not to feel like he opted for agencies that would follow the letter of the law without necessarily understanding what they were approving,” says Kelly Hills, a bioethicist at Rogue Bioethics.

She also sees a sense of impulsive recklessness in the interviews that Evans gave earlier this year. Science reported that he did the experiment “in part to end the debate about whether recreating a poxvirus was feasible.” And he told NPR that “someone had to bite the bullet and do this.” To Hills, that sounds like: I did it because I could do it. “We don’t accept those arguments from anyone above age six,” she says.

Even people who are sympathetic to Evans’s arguments agree that it’s problematic that so few people knew about the work before it was completed. “I can’t emphasize enough that when people in the security community feel like they’ve been blindsided, they get very concerned,” says Diane DiEuliis from National Defense University, who studies dual-use research.

The same debates played out in 2002, when other researchers synthesized poliovirus in a lab. And in 2005, when another group resurrected the flu virus behind the catastrophic 1918 pandemic. And in 2012, when two teams mutated H5N1 flu to be more transmissible in mammals, in a bid to understand how that might happen in the wild. Many of the people I spoke with expressed frustration over this ethical Möbius strip. “It’s hard not to think that we’re moving in circles,” Hills says. “Can we stop saying we need to have a conversation and actually get to the conversation?”

The problem is that scientists are not trained to reliably anticipate the consequences of their work. They need counsel from ethicists, medical historians, sociologists, and community representatives—but these groups are often left out from the committees that currently oversee dual-use research. “The peer group who is weighing in on these decisions is far too narrow, and these experiments have the potential to affect such a large swath of society,” says Lentzos. “I’m not saying we should flood committees with people off the streets, but there are a lot of professionals who are trained to think ethically or from a security perspective. Scientists don’t have that and it’s actually unfair that they’re being asked to make judgment calls on security issues.”

More broadly, Hills says, there’s a tendency for researchers to view ethicists and institutional reviewers as yet more red tape, or as the source of unnecessary restrictions that will stifle progress. Esvelt agrees. “Science is built to ascend the tree of knowledge and taste its fruit, and the mentality of most scientists is that knowledge is always good,” he says. “I just don’t believe that that’s true. There are some things that we are better off not knowing.” He thinks the scientific enterprise needs better norms around potentially dangerous information. First: Don’t spread it. Second: If someone tells you that your work represents an information hazard, “you should seriously respect their call.”

Lentzos adds that scientists should be trained on these topics from the earliest stages of their careers. “It needs to start at the undergrad level, and be continually done for active researchers,” she says. There is a lot of talk about educating society about science. Perhaps what is more needed is educating scientists about society.

from Health News And Updates https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/10/horsepox-smallpox-virus-science-ethics-debate/572200/?utm_source=feed

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