#especially not in public spaces both irl and online

[gingerbreadmonsters]

polite and gentle reminder that it is perfectly okay to not say anything about any particular subject, because moralising about events and people that are not real on the internet does not in fact make you a defender of the good and righteous, but instead just makes you and the people around you miserable when everybody inevitably has to hash out the same argument again and again to no avail

[arotechno]

sometimes i think about the early days of me identifying as aro, and often i try hard not to preach about The Old Days because it's not like they were better, but i think for a lot of people newer to the community it's not always clear how surreal the past few years have been for me and many others.

i'm NOT that old. i'm only in my 20s and i've known i was aroace for less than ten years. but sometimes even that is enough to make me feel ancient. i remember when there were just, basically no dedicated aro spaces. very few aro blogs on tumblr. impossible to find aro merch, barely any aro creators on youtube and the like. we hadn't even unified around the current flag yet, in fact we were a couple iterations behind. ace stuff too, there were a lot more ace blogs and youtubers etc. than aro ones, and AVEN was already a long-standing thing, but still far less than there is now.

i'm sure if i was a bit more persistent and a lot less 15 and scared i could have found more out there, but the point stands that aro communities in 2014 were extremely insular. offline, i was the only aro person i knew, and i was deep in the closet. i only learned about being aro by accident, and i had to navigate it on my own. it took me more than a year to actually say it out loud, to myself in the mirror, because i couldn't externalize it. there was never a moment of relief at realizing who i was. it was a dawning understanding of something i always knew, and then it became my deepest secret, because there was nobody i could tell who'd understand. i didn't make aro friends online until much later.

the aspec community online, on tumblr especially, was decimated in those intervening years, and i had the "benefit" of already being closeted during those times, so i avoided the worst of the harassment that people who were openly aspec online were getting. but it did push me further into the closet and leave me with significant issues. but then, things got a little better. aro blogs started popping up. in fact, i won't name names because i'll embarass us all but if you're seeing this and you ran an aro blog in 2017ish, thank you, because you are literally the reason i decided it was safe to be openly aspec on tumblr again, and here i am.

of course, nothing is ever perfect. every community has both internal and external problems, and we're still working on ours. we've got a lot to fight for. and every time i think about all the culture and terminology we lost in the mid 2010s, i do get a little sad. but during pride month this year, i drove past a storefront that had pride flags painted in the window, and i almost started crying on the bus, because one of them was an aro flag. it was the first time i'd ever seen an aro flag in person that i didn't own.

for me, being aro was very isolating for years and sometimes still is. it's surreal (in a good way!) when i hear that kids now have multiple out aro friends irl, because it was only ever just me. but i think about myself as a young teenager, alone trying to string together an aro pride bracelet for myself in my bedroom, and to have known that in 8 years i'd be out, i'd have a community, i'd cry on public transit during pride month... well, i just wouldn't have believed it at all.

[genderqueerdykes]

Im nonbinary and i feel ashamed of being amab.

Even ignoring dysphoria, the expectations of being a guy as well as being too scared to...well do anything that might affirm me is really getting to me, especially as it feels like afab nonbinary people are far more common and im left feeling isolated (made even worse by any gender envy i get only coming from them so i feel like i never will be happy with my gender because of my agab).

how do i deal with this?

hello there! Thanks for taking the time to stop by!

i wanted to say from the bottom of my heart that i am sorry that people have made you feel this way, because it's not just you having those feelings. people have made it difficult for amab nonbinary people to have a voice and a place to speak for themselves due to a lot of bullshit. i understand feeling isolated, it's hard to network with other people like yourself when you constantly feel pushed out of every space you try to occupy

the fact that a lot of people think that being nonbinary is just a thing that afab people do or a "weird girl thing" is frustrating, it sucks because you really do encounter it. it's not true though- given the absolutely massive amount of amab nonbinary people i've met both online and in person, it's not that amab nonbinary people don't exist, it's just that no one will give you room to speak and that is bullshit

i would recommend trying to see if there are any transfem support groups in your area as that would probably be the highest concentration of people who are the likeliest to understand your situation. you can also look out for nonbinary support groups, but i totally understand your apprehension. it helps to try to start with people who are the most likely to get you. i would honestly also recommend just taking up space in whatever queer communities you find if you can. it's hard, but you do deserve a chance to take up that space and it may help someone else feel less alone in the process

you are just as nonbinary as any person of any other agab. your agab is your dearest secret and nobody has the right to exile you from any queer spaces based off of that. your agab means nothing about your intentions, personality, or anything- your agab is just some organs and reproductive health systems. whether or not you have that body from birth or because of hormones and surgery is nobody's business

you have the right to talk about the nonbinary experience and how unique it is to your agab, especially. remind yourself that anyone outside of that experience doesn't know what it's like. i don't know what it's like, because i'm not amab. those people are not the expert on what it's like to live this life. you are. let yourself be that expert. let yourself be judge

there are a million ways to be trans and no agab owns nonbinaryhood. common public conceptions of identities and concepts are often heavily biased and skewed. in time as we see folks become braver, people will begin to understand that amab people are just as likely to identify as nonbinary as anyone else. trust me, i have met so many. you are not alone by any stretch of the imagination

you are also welcome to join my discord server, if you're not already in it! it's not a solution to having irl community, but having an online support group can help a lot!

there's no reason to be ashamed, you are a beautiful individual with an identity that is just as incredible. i hope your shame can turn to pride, you have an experience that is worth blessing the world with. take care of yourself for now. do the best you can to remind yourself that you are defining the trans experience just by existing. other people can talk shit all they want, but you know who you are. keep your chin up, you're awesome. have a great week

[barbiegirldream]

Related to Q/T (not very Dream sympathic even though I'm a big fan) : I doubt it's for clout, Tommy has always been pretty consistent about doing what he likes.

I think it's just simply what happened for all the streamers (Q, Slime, Phil, Tommy...) and that's why the skit is like that, bc it's what happened for them. Because I really don't see Tommy just switching on his friends, especially not for clout.

BUT, and that's what is so terrible about this situation, they just don't get how much hatred is throwned at dream fans and Dream himself ? Like, for them it was a "Q didn't say anything bc he doesn't have to say anything. Dream copied, he deal with the accusations it's his own bed." So Q not saying anything is OKaying the USMP and Dream is a drama queen for airing public messages and overreacting. In that vision, Dream is the one breaking the friendship, creating drama for nothing, and overreacting. Not continuing the USMP is Dream's decision (and that's something so many people are saying against it !).

But that's completely disregard the amount of hate and vitriol the USMP got because they can't know, you don't know how hard someone can be harrassed. The space with at least 1k of people doxxing Dream ? The ss where there was a coordinate effort to attack him ? I remember externs mocking us for speaking about "sending assassins" before realizing that oh, actually it happened.

So I do get Tommy's video : Dream should have stayed silent about everything and just went "the USMP will not happen yet, wait for it". But I dislike how that take completely disregard that he was pressed by very real hatred both online and IRL, and that's something that people love to ignore about Dream and his stans.

So yeah. Dream made his bed, but I'd like for once to have those guys have the same pressure put on them and see how they react.

PS : absolutely hate to see people discard that T made his own reputation and that he should be thankful for Dream's friendship. I can't bother to watch him anymore, but he is talented and has always been pretty straight about himself. It's also more than getting on the QSMP.

Sorry if it cloggs for asks, it was a bit long and not very positive. Feel free to ignore, your blog just made me feel free enough to share this.

None of this is true tho... like no one thinks Dream aired private messages there were no private messages. they made fun of the long twit longer because they can't genuinely comprehend someone stalking and committing crimes bad enough for the FBI to get involved. They genuinely think Dream is lying out of his ass unaware this isn't even the first time it's happened to Dream. You know who's more than aware? Tommy more than any other random CC on the internet knows exactly what happened to Dream because Dream talked Tommy through the same debacle. Tommy just had an entire livestream tour around England telling everyone how Dream protected him and prepared him because of Dream's experience with criminals trying to ruin his life. This round of doxxing happened because they wanted Dream scared enough to not do the USMP which it worked he didn't they won. But it's still not enough. These freaks spend all their time tweeting about Dream because he's all they care about. QSMP is just their new camp from which to throw grenades at Drean.

Tommy's reputation is as a Dream SMP streamer it's all he ever wanted his reputation to be. Tommy's youtube channel is based off the DSMP. Tommy literally said with his own mouth you can thank Dream for everything about his channel because Dream told him how to do everything from thumbnails to video descriptions. I remember during Minecon Tommy going I had a brilliant idea and by that I mean Dream had an idea and I went oh yeah that's good. Tommy has never ever in the past shied away from giving Dream and anyone else who inspired him their flowers. The simple truth is he probably thought he could get away with the joke and being a teenage boy comes with an inherent cruelty to it 🤷‍♀️

[threadsun]

Hello hello I’m sending you kisses and asking for some guidance (if anything is out of line or something you just don’t want to answer that’s 1000% ok and I apologize)

So I’m incredibly new to kink and sexual things in general (in love with my “raised puritan to corruption arc”) and I want to learn more and eventually participate in community stuff but I don’t know where to look especially when moving from online to irl

I will admit I’m worried about safety I know how gross people are when it comes to sexual freedom and unfortunately I am incredibly naive at times ;-; so if you have any tips for what to be aware of that would amazing

p.s: besides yandere content you’re the biggest influence to my kink awakening 💕

-🌧️ (<— hope this isn’t taken;;)

Kisses for you too!!! I'm honoured to be part of your kink awakening and corruption arc >:3c

I'm definitely glad you're thinking about these things before jumping in, because it's definitely important to make sure you're not putting yourself in a vulnerable position. While the kink community generally is a very safe place that values consent and polices itself, that doesn't mean there aren't people who slip through the cracks and are able to take advantage of others, so knowing what to look for (both green flags and red ones) is definitely important!

Anyway this advice is going to be long and probably not super well organised, so I'm putting it under a cut. But I hope it helps!

I'd always recommend starting to get involved in kink through community rather than with a single individual/a handful of individuals, because there's more accountability and more people to learn from. Finding local kink groups is always a great idea, especially because they'll often hold things like munches (casual social gatherings in public places where no actual kink takes place) or other social events that don't involve any expectations. I know there's groups local to me who do things like craft nights and education events!

Conventions are also good for that because they tend to have introductory classes for people who are new to these things, and once again there's no pressure to participate, but they tend to cost money to go to. If you happen to live close enough to not need a hotel, though, sometimes they'll offer free tickets to people who volunteer to do things like loading in and out the vendor tables and whatnot! Conventions can be pretty overwhelming your first time though, so I tend to recommend starting with things like munches. It'll also help you find groups of people to go to other events with.

While I don't necessarily use fetlife as a social media, imo it's worth making an account just to find local groups and events, because you can search for things by location! Especially if you don't have irl friends to go places with, it can be nice to network with people you meet at munches and whatnot through fetlife. Though, if you do have irl friends who are interested in kink, going with them can be loads of fun!!

Before going to any irl event, you're going to want to take stock of the social risks associated with being involved in irl kink communities for you. It's always personal, no two people are going to have the exact same risk factors. But it's important to think about things like whether or not you might lose housing/your job/your support system if it becomes public knowledge that you do kink. That will inform how you approach the kink community, and how much you share with people. Some people only do kink events and go to munches if they're far enough from where they live to be safe, others use their full names in kink spaces and aren't worried at all. People who make their livings in kink spaces (such as erotica authors and sex educators) are at much lower risk than people who work with children, for example.

It's pretty common (though not required) to have what's known as a "scene name". It's the name you'll use in kink spaces, and it can be anything from a nickname to your fetlife profile name to just a random name you like! I'm not gonna share my scene name for obvious reasons, but I've seen people go by all sorts of things! It's honestly pretty similar to names on Tumblr. I'm known as Sun, some people are known by their full urls, some people use their actual names. It all depends on personal comfort and safety levels with sharing these things.

You might also want to think about what pronouns you'll want to go by, since it's really common for people to share pronouns in the kink community. Plenty of people go by the pronouns they use in their every day lives, but I also know plenty of people who prefer different pronouns in kink spaces for various reasons. Overall, it's a very welcoming community to minorities, especially queer and disabled people.

I'd definitely say it's safer to learn about kink from a variety of people, and learn through talking before you start doing anything. Though hands-on learning is also a very valid way to go once you know how to assert your boundaries and know the safety around what you're doing. Even if you're bottoming and/or subbing, you still need to know the safety of everything the top/dom is doing. Safety is the responsibility of everyone involved in the scene!

When it comes to looking for people to play with, definitely start with people you know and trust. Once again, it can be a lot safer to be around large groups of people, such as at a dungeon or play parties, because then there's people outside of the scene around to make sure everything is safe. Group events are also likely to be okay with passive observers, if you just want to watch what's happening without getting involved. Especially if people know you're new to the community, it's not unusual to observe to learn things like etiquette and whatnot. People might also offer to walk you through basic scenes and whatnot, though if someone you don't know well offers to take you somewhere private without you asking, I wouldn't necessarily trust that.

In general, never trust a partner(s) who wants you learning only from them, who doesn't want you talking about your experiences with others, or who doesn't respect what you do and don't want. Get comfortable saying no, saying red, saying your safeword. Don't be afraid of disappointing your partner(s) with it, any partner(s) who are worth playing with will be happy you asserted your boundaries. And trust me, that's most people in the community. It's very common to see people being praised for ending a scene when they hit their limit. So learn how to do that, it's the most important skill you'll learn in kink.

Other red flags include:

Not negotiating scenes beforehand - Trying to jump right into a dynamic without talking about what you both want and your limits first is very dangerous and concerning

Not confirming safewords/scene ending phrases beforehand - If you're ever uncertain of how to stop a scene, you shouldn't be starting the scene

Telling you outside of scene that a "good" sub/bottom/dom/top/etc. does [thing] - There's no one "right" way to be a sub/bottom/dom/top/etc. and anyone who tries to pull that shit on you is just trying to manipulate you into pushing your boundaries

Making you feel guilty for your limits - Just because they want to do something, doesn't mean they ever have the right to make you feel bad about not wanting to do it

Brushing off safety - Anyone who doesn't take safety seriously in scenes isn't safe to play with. If you're tying, y'all need shears on hand. If you're choking, y'all need to know safe ways to do it. Anything y'all do, you both need to take the safety aspect seriously.

Some green flags include:

Asking about your comfort with various things they plan to do - Before they do anything to you, they should be checking in and making sure you're comfortable. Bonus points if they check about language you like being used for you!

Expecting equal input in negotiations - You want a partner who makes their desires known and wants to know your desires

Explaining what they're doing - Especially if they're a top/dom, explaining what they're doing during a scene (or what they're going to do beforehand) is very good, especially if it's when you're exploring a new kink

Treating you as an equal outside of scenes - This isn't so much a green flag as a necessity, outside of the power exchange of scenes, you are equals and should be treated as such

Making things fun - You should always be having fun in scenes, but it's especially nice to find a partner who doesn't take things too seriously. Someone who makes you laugh and who you have a fun time with is very important

Honestly, there's so much more I could say, but this is already getting long and a lot of it is the same stuff as with vanilla relationships. Respect and safety are the most important, as is having a community to watch your back. But overall the kink community is pretty safe and welcoming, and there's a lot of accountability! So don't stress too much about safety, it's no less safe than meeting up with vanilla people.

[transinclusionary]

Were you the person cosplaying as a transwoman when you are AFAB? Because that's just sick af. I've seen post circulate around you - I just came here because I recently followed you ... and .. now .. Idk ..

I used to used to refrain from confirming my gender with anybody, due to how uncomfortable I was about my gender being a talking point online. I have always struggled with my gender identity. The idea of people focusing more on what's under my clothes instead of the content of my character really bothered me. I believed that since people often call out racism without people assuming they belong to the group they're advocating for, that I could do the same for transphobia. Oppression is not comparable, however, and I realized that this did not work for these discussions. If I am to effectively advocate against terfs and for trans people, I then need to use my privilege as being cis passing in discussions. I don't really love people online knowing my gender, because I dont really know my gender either. But this feeling is the exact same thing trans women constantly go through: the feeling that their gender is constantly subjected to ridicule by any random you encounter, both online and IRL.

I have never said that I was a trans women, merely deflected whenever someone asked me about it. In retrospect, it was a selfish thing to do that I definitely regret. I started this blog as a teenager and it's aged with me to mid twenties. If I could, I would go back and re-do some interactions. The mistakes have been uncomfortable but necessary learning lessons for me. I learned I can not effectively advocate if I keep my gender a secret, because it means I refuse to do the same thing that trans people are expected to do.

I wish I could go back and state what my gender was when it mattered. I didnt know entirely how to classify myself, however, so I redirected any attempts to talk about my gender identity because I myself didnt want to think about it. I dont feel cis, but I also dont feel trans, so how can I tell someone what my identity is if I dont know it myself? However, since my gender identity will never be a trans woman, it wont hurt me to confirm with people as much.

I came to the conclusion that I can not have both my ambiguous gender identity and be a terfexclusionist. I chose to sacrifice the comfort of my ambiguous gender identity, in solidarity with trans people who are expected to disclose. Unfortunately, the world we live in is that we are representatives for our gender (which I think is bs). We all deserve to live as individuals and not spend our short lives worrying about how our life will influence the collective's public perception on others who share a gender identity. Unfortunately, this not how the world operates, especially not online as it pertains to trans people. You speak for members of your gender identity when you're anything other than cis, heterosexual, and endosex. Instead of selfishly denying the reality that trans people are forced to be model minorities, I instead adapted my advocacy to better fit this unfair aspect of life. If trans people are forced to cater to cis people's comforts for their safety, it should be up to cis passing people to (safely) show to cisendosex people that it's not just trans people who care about this. This is obviously a fine line, as you dont want to advocate in a way that might cause more violence than it helps. I'm still figuring out the best way to do that. I make mistakes, unfortunately I am not perfect nor will I ever be. But the mistakes help me learn who I want to be, and not starting this blog with everyone knowing my gender was one of those mistakes.

You're right, cosplaying as trans women is disgusting, I've seen it both IRL and online. It pushes trans people out of spaces designed for them, and that's something I would never want to do. However, my refusal to confirm my identity should not mean people just assume I'm a trans woman. I do not believe trans people should exclusively be expected to call out terfs. It means that cisendo people are not doing their jobs as allies to use their priviledge to call out bigotry.

I never started this blog thinking anyone would actually follow me or even have opinions about me. I definitely did not think "terfexclusionist" or "transinclusionary" would be followed by anyone other than my best friend. This blog initially started because of my (admittedly) unhealthy anger about the absolute refusal of terfs to admit that they are doing is wrong. To this day, the rhetoric that terfs spew almost brings me to tears of frustration. The LGB community makes me want to pull out my hair and scream. This is why I often take extended breaks from this blog. I still probably can develop a healthier way to cope with the anger. I want to do something to help this epidemic, but I'm just one person. I just want to do the right thing, but it is often unclear about what is the right thing to do. This is why I appreciate having my followers give me feedback, both positive and negative, as it allows me to introspect.

If you want to remain followed, that's fine, but do not feel pressured to. Life is way too short to continue following someone you dont feel comfortable with. I am always open to any suggestions, criticisms, and concerns by both anon and DM. This goes for both you, anon, and any other of my followers. Please never hesitate to reach out. I appreciate you (and all my follower) for caring about doing the right thing and keeping me on the straight and narrow. Have a good day.

[nukki93]

If you want, answer or try to answer to the following questions, please.

1) Is there anyone who knows that you wear/ like/buy diapers?

2) Has anyone accidentally ever seen you wearing diapers (with nothing else covering them) in a locker rooom, in a public toilet, airport check-in, during a medical visit or anywhere else? If yes, how did he react to this?

3) Has anyone accidentally ever been able to notice you wearing your diapers under your clothes? If yes, what has the reaction been?

4) What are your favourite diapers?

5) Ever worn diapers 24/7?

6) Do you like straitjackets, gags, and adult diapers together?

7) Have you ever been seen while buying adult diapers in a shop? If yes what has been the reaction? Furthermore, how has the cashier reacted?

8) Have you ever bought diapers using internet?

9) Has ever been anyone who has joked about you wearing diapers? Has ever been anyone who has made fun of you because you wear diapers?

10) Have you ever been humiliated for you wearing/liking/buying diapers?

11) Have you ever tried reusable adult diapers? If yes, how are they?

12) When did you wear your first adult diaper? What did you feel?

13) How has being ABDL influenced your social and love relations?

14) How many diaper lovers/ABDL do you know, both online and where you live?

15)Are you more AB or DL?

16) Why do you like/love diapers?

17) Have you ever seen anyone wearing diapers, in a public space (with nothing else covering them)?

18) Have you ever been able to notice anyone wearing diapers under clothes?

19) Have you ever seen anyone while buying adult diapers in a shop?

20) Have you ever worn diapers at job?

1) My girlfriend and a lot of people I know in the ABDL community.

2) Maybe felt it at airport security, but seen? No, maybe accidentally, but no incident I know of.

3) Airport security several times, always very professional and they never said anything and just checked quickly, except one time where a not very smart appearing security dude accused me of carrying a fenny bag under my pants. I told him it‘s a diaper and he was a bit confused and let me pass. And one time (even if I always try to wear concealing outfits) a kid somewhere behind me said to his parents that I‘m wearing diapers. Maybe they have a better eye for it. But nothing else happened and I think they didn‘t respond to it.

4) Probably Tena Slip Maxi Original, at least that‘s the one I‘m always wearing. Maybe I switch to the Ultima as it is more widely available. Sadly not as cotton/plastic hybrid like the Maxi Original, so I have to decide between all cotton or all plastic.

5) Yes, since a long time, maybe 1.5 years or something, but also before just with some small unavoidable breaks.

6) Not sure about that, I never tried but I could imagine a straitjacket could be fun.

7) I bought diapers in pharmacys, medical supply stores and supermarkets. Except me being nervous, especially when I was very young and got my first pack of diapers at a pharmacy in a neighboring district, never anything special happened. Also never seen someone I know.

8) All the time 😄

9) Nope

10) Also nope.

11) Way too much laundry.

12) I honestly don’t really remember, I have a lot of diaper related memories from when I was younger, but not about the first time wearing adult diapers. I think I must’ve been around maybe 13 or 14? I got my first pack of Tenas at a pharmacy, but not much later I ordered my first pack online and according to my emails it was 2008, so I was 14.

13) Not really as I never told any irl friends or my ex gf. But I found my girlfriend and some friends through it, so probably positive.

14) Depending on the number of people that attended events that I went to, I think at least 80 that I met in rl.

15) Really good question, I think I‘m always DL but AB is more a being in the mood thing.

16) Because I draw the „lucky“ number and my brain decided to, idk haha

17 & 18) Noo

19) Yes in Thailand when I also got a pack and in Portugal a woman had a pack of Tena Slip Plus something in her shopping cart.

20) I‘m self employed and working at my home office, so yes, always, but at my side job during my bachelor I wore diapers most of the time.

[lurkiestvoid]

Because this knowledge is becoming rarer and because these methods are still being used literally everywhere online in all spaces, and ESPECIALLY because of the 2024 election, we need to familiarize ourselves with COINTELPRO Tactics and learn to identify and counteract them.

You have probably already encountered many of these tactics before, ESPECIALLY in intra-community "discourse" or high-profile "justice" cliques. Many of these strategies are used to further hyperpolarization in order to prevent solidarity between individuals and various activist groups and organizations.

Please save this masterpost for future reference or later reading.

(If you already know the background info on COINTELPRO and want the online-relevant stuff, scroll to the cut.)

What is COINTELPRO?

COINTELPRO, short for Counter-Intelligence Program, was a covert and illegal FBI program spearheaded by J. Edgar Hoover. The program ran officially between 1956-1971 for purposes of surveiling, infiltrating, confusing, derailing, discrediting, and neutralizing grassroots political movements and protests, or anything considered to be a "threat to US political stability" with intense focus on Black civil rights activists. Nowadays many of these tactics have evolved into Patriot Act-style surveillance and counteraction. From Britannica:

These programs were exposed in 1971 when the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI burglarized an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, stole confidential files, and then released them to the press. More information regarding COINTELPRO was later obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, lawsuits lodged against the FBI by the BPP and the SWP, and statements by agents who came forward to confess their counterintelligence activities.

A major investigation was launched in 1975 by the U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, commonly referred to as the “Church Committee,” for its chairman, Senator Frank Church of Idaho. However, millions of pages of documents remain unreleased, and many released documents are heavily censored. 

For more information, Assata Shakur's website has a fantastic detailed overview.

Did COINTELPRO ever end?

Officially and on paper, yes, COINTELPRO as an official program was declassified and discontinued in the 70s. However, the FBI and other federal organizations have been suspected of still using these tactics even as recently as 2020 against movements such as Black Lives Matter, Abolish ICE, environmentalists, anti-war groups, economic justice advocates, racial justice movements, and even progressive politicians.

How did COINTELPRO originally work?

Modern applications of these tactics may look slightly different in digital arenas, but are virtually unchanged in IRL-activist movements and in both realms the themes and goals are the same. From Wikipedia:

According to attorney Brian Glick in his book War at Home, the FBI used five main methods during COINTELPRO:

1) Infiltration: Agents and informers did not merely spy on political activists. Their main purpose was to discredit, disrupt and negatively redirect action. Their very presence served to undermine trust and scare off potential supporters. The FBI and police exploited this fear to smear genuine activists as agents.

2.) Psychological warfare: The FBI and police used a myriad of "dirty tricks" to undermine movements. They planted false media stories and published bogus leaflets and other publications in the name of targeted groups. They forged correspondence, sent anonymous letters, and made anonymous telephone calls. They spread misinformation about meetings and events, set up pseudo movement groups run by government agents, and manipulated or strong-armed parents, employers, landlords, school officials, and others to cause trouble for activists. They used bad-jacketing to create suspicion about targeted activists, sometimes with lethal consequences.[71]

3.) Harassment via the legal system: The FBI and police abused the legal system to harass dissidents and make them appear to be criminals. Officers of the law gave perjured testimony and presented fabricated evidence as a pretext for false arrests and wrongful imprisonment. They discriminatorily enforced tax laws and other government regulations and used conspicuous surveillance, "investigative" interviews, and grand jury subpoenas in an effort to intimidate activists and silence their supporters.[70][72]

4.) Illegal force: The FBI conspired with local police departments to threaten dissidents; to conduct illegal break-ins in order to search dissident homes; and to commit vandalism, assaults, beatings and assassinations.[70] The objective was to frighten or eliminate dissidents and disrupt their movements.

5.) Undermine public opinion: One of the primary ways the FBI targeted organizations was by challenging their reputations in the community and denying them a platform to gain legitimacy. Hoover specifically designed programs to block leaders from "spreading their philosophy publicly or through the communications media". Furthermore, the organization created and controlled negative media meant to undermine black power organizations. For instance, they oversaw the creation of "documentaries" skillfully edited to paint the Black Panther Party as aggressive, and false newspapers that spread misinformation about party members. The ability of the FBI to create distrust within and between revolutionary organizations tainted their public image and weakened chances at unity and public support.[46]

What do these tactics look like in online spaces?

Using these tactics to control narratives and momentum is both easier and harder online than in real-life spaces. IRL, infiltrating or informing relies on being personally convincing and appearing genuine and often has little to no "crowd-swaying" power behind it, whereas online it only takes using the right buzzwords and phrases to build a platform agents can then use to trickle propaganda, which then is amplified by their well-meaning followers. This can look like anything from ragebait to memes to sometimes even apparently "good faith" discussion.

These methods can be and are frequently used in financial, environmental, and political spheres of public interaction across the whole internet, by anyone from international government agencies to billionaire-funded "think tanks" as well as any corporation large enough to fund a PR department (or even a small team heading an army of bots). If there is profitable or sociopolitical gain in controlling a narrative -- such as keeping people dependent on oil products or influencing stock prices or changing public sentiment about a public figure or policy -- then someone will absolutely be taking advantage of it.

It is very important to remember that the overall goal is to APPEAR GENUINE, to make use of GENUINE COMMUNITY LANGUAGE AND DISCUSSION, to MANIPULATE EMOTIONAL RESPONSE, and to AVOID DETECTION AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. This means that bad-faith agents and provocateurs can be virtually invisible, but it ALSO means that witch-hunts and callout-posts are only helping them by creating a community sense of fear, distrust, and paranoia. The BEST DEFENSES are KNOWLEDGE OF LOGICAL FALLACIES and STAYING CALM.

The next few sections have floated occasionally around the internet but almost every single original post has disappeared even from backups, and the information itself has become very hard to find as a result. It was also written mostly towards structured forums like Reddit or "news groups," but can easily be applied to more casual sites like Tumblr, like "forum sliding" can become "tag stuffing."

I take no credit for the following work, and I only lightly edited/formatted for posting here on Tumblr:

1) COINTELPRO Techniques for dilution, misdirection and control of a internet forum

2) Twenty-Five Rules of Disinformation

3) Eight Traits of the Disinformationalist

4) How to Spot a Spy (Cointelpro Agent)

5) Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

1) COINTELPRO Techniques for dilution, misdirection, and control of an internet forum

There are several techniques for the control and manipulation of a internet forum no matter what, or who is on it. We will go over each technique and demonstrate that only a minimal number of operatives can be used to eventually and effectively gain a control of a 'uncontrolled forum.'

Technique #1 - 'FORUM SLIDING'

If a very sensitive posting of a critical nature has been posted on a forum - it can be quickly removed from public view by 'forum sliding.' In this technique a number of unrelated posts are quietly prepositioned on the forum and allowed to 'age.' Each of these misdirectional forum postings can then be called upon at will to trigger a 'forum slide.' The second requirement is that several fake accounts exist, which can be called upon, to ensure that this technique is not exposed to the public. To trigger a 'forum slide' and 'flush' the critical post out of public view it is simply a matter of logging into each account both real and fake and then 'replying' to prepositined postings with a simple 1 or 2 line comment. This brings the unrelated postings to the top of the forum list, and the critical posting 'slides' down the front page, and quickly out of public view. Although it is difficult or impossible to censor the posting it is now lost in a sea of unrelated and unuseful postings. By this means it becomes effective to keep the readers of the forum reading unrelated and non-issue items.

Technique #2 - 'CONSENSUS CRACKING'

A second highly effective technique is 'consensus cracking.' To develop a consensus crack, the following technique is used. Under the guise of a fake account a posting is made which looks legitimate and is towards the truth is made - but the critical point is that it has a VERY WEAK PREMISE without substantive proof to back the posting. Once this is done then under alternative fake accounts a very strong position in your favour is slowly introduced over the life of the posting. It is IMPERATIVE that both sides are initially presented, so the uninformed reader cannot determine which side is the truth. As postings and replies are made the stronger 'evidence' or disinformation in your favour is slowly 'seeded in.' Thus the uninformed reader will most like develop the same position as you, and if their position is against you their opposition to your posting will be most likely dropped. However in some cases where the forum members are highly educated and can counter your disinformation with real facts and linked postings, you can then 'abort' the consensus cracking by initiating a 'forum slide.'

Technique #3 - 'TOPIC DILUTION'

Topic dilution is not only effective in forum sliding it is also very useful in keeping the forum readers on unrelated and non-productive issues. This is a critical and useful technique to cause a 'RESOURCE BURN.' By implementing continual and non-related postings that distract and disrupt (trolling ) the forum readers they are more effectively stopped from anything of any real productivity. If the intensity of gradual dilution is intense enough, the readers will effectively stop researching and simply slip into a 'gossip mode.' In this state they can be more easily misdirected away from facts towards uninformed conjecture and opinion. The less informed they are the more effective and easy it becomes to control the entire group in the direction that you would desire the group to go in. It must be stressed that a proper assessment of the psychological capabilities and levels of education is first determined of the group to determine at what level to 'drive in the wedge.' By being too far off topic too quickly it may trigger censorship by a forum moderator.

Technique #4 - 'INFORMATION COLLECTION'

Information collection is also a very effective method to determine the psychological level of the forum members, and to gather intelligence that can be used against them. In this technique in a light and positive environment a 'show you mine so me yours' posting is initiated. From the number of replies and the answers that are provided much statistical information can be gathered. An example is to post your 'favourite weapon' and then encourage other members of the forum to showcase what they have. In this matter it can be determined by reverse proration what percentage of the forum community owns a firearm, and or a illegal weapon. This same method can be used by posing as one of the form members and posting your favourite 'technique of operation.' From the replies various methods that the group utilizes can be studied and effective methods developed to stop them from their activities.

Technique #5 - 'ANGER TROLLING'

Statistically, there is always a percentage of the forum posters who are more inclined to violence. In order to determine who these individuals are, it is a requirement to present a image to the forum to deliberately incite a strong psychological reaction. From this the most violent in the group can be effectively singled out for reverse IP location and possibly local enforcement tracking. To accomplish this only requires posting a link to a video depicting a local police officer massively abusing his power against a very innocent individual. Statistically of the million or so police officers in America there is always one or two being caught abusing there powers and the taping of the activity can be then used for intelligence gathering purposes - without the requirement to 'stage' a fake abuse video. This method is extremely effective, and the more so the more abusive the video can be made to look. Sometimes it is useful to 'lead' the forum by replying to your own posting with your own statement of violent intent, and that you 'do not care what the authorities think!!' inflammation. By doing this and showing no fear it may be more effective in getting the more silent and self-disciplined violent intent members of the forum to slip and post their real intentions. This can be used later in a court of law during prosecution.

Technique #6 - 'GAINING FULL CONTROL'

It is important to also be harvesting and continually maneuvering for a forum moderator position. Once this position is obtained, the forum can then be effectively and quietly controlled by deleting unfavourable postings - and one can eventually steer the forum into complete failure and lack of interest by the general public. This is the 'ultimate victory' as the forum is no longer participated with by the general public and no longer useful in maintaining their freedoms. Depending on the level of control you can obtain, you can deliberately steer a forum into defeat by censoring postings, deleting memberships, flooding, and or accidentally taking the forum offline. By this method the forum can be quickly killed. However it is not always in the interest to kill a forum as it can be converted into a 'honey pot' gathering center to collect and misdirect newcomers and from this point be completely used for your control for your agenda purposes.

CONCLUSION

Remember these techniques are only effective if the forum participants DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THEM. Once they are aware of these techniques the operation can completely fail, and the forum can become uncontrolled. At this point other avenues must be considered such as initiating a false legal precidence to simply have the forum shut down and taken offline. This is not desirable as it then leaves the enforcement agencies unable to track the percentage of those in the population who always resist attempts for control against them. Many other techniques can be utilized and developed by the individual and as you develop further techniques of infiltration and control it is imperative to share them with HQ.

2) Twenty-five Rules of Disinformation

Note: The first rule and last five (or six, depending on situation) rules are generally not directly within the ability of the traditional disinfo artist to apply. These rules are generally used more directly by those at the leadership, key players, or planning level of the criminal conspiracy or conspiracy to cover up.

1. Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. Regardless of what you know, don't discuss it -- especially if you are a public figure, news anchor, etc. If it's not reported, it didn't happen, and you never have to deal with the issues.

2. Become incredulous and indignant. Avoid discussing key issues and instead focus on side issues which can be used show the topic as being critical of some otherwise sacrosanct group or theme. This is also known as the 'How dare you!' gambit.

3. Create rumor mongers. Avoid discussing issues by describing all charges, regardless of venue or evidence, as mere rumors and wild accusations. Other derogatory terms mutually exclusive of truth may work as well. This method which works especially well with a silent press, because the only way the public can learn of the facts are through such 'arguable rumors'. If you can associate the material with the Internet, use this fact to certify it a 'wild rumor' from a 'bunch of kids on the Internet' which can have no basis in fact.

4. Use a straw man. Find or create a seeming element of your opponent's argument which you can easily knock down to make yourself look good and the opponent to look bad. Either make up an issue you may safely imply exists based on your interpretation of the opponent/opponent arguments/situation, or select the weakest aspect of the weakest charges. Amplify their significance and destroy them in a way which appears to debunk all the charges, real and fabricated alike, while actually avoiding discussion of the real issues.

5. Sidetrack opponents with name calling and ridicule. This is also known as the primary 'attack the messenger' ploy, though other methods qualify as variants of that approach. Associate opponents with unpopular titles such as 'kooks', 'right-wing', 'liberal', 'left-wing', 'terrorists', 'conspiracy buffs', 'radicals', 'militia', 'racists', 'religious fanatics', 'sexual deviates', and so forth. This makes others shrink from support out of fear of gaining the same label, and you avoid dealing with issues.

6. Hit and Run. In any public forum, make a brief attack of your opponent or the opponent position and then scamper off before an answer can be fielded, or simply ignore any answer. This works extremely well in Internet and letters-to-the-editor environments where a steady stream of new identities can be called upon without having to explain criticism, reasoning -- simply make an accusation or other attack, never discussing issues, and never answering any subsequent response, for that would dignify the opponent's viewpoint.

7. Question motives. Twist or amplify any fact which could be taken to imply that the opponent operates out of a hidden personal agenda or other bias. This avoids discussing issues and forces the accuser on the defensive.

8. Invoke authority. Claim for yourself or associate yourself with authority and present your argument with enough 'jargon' and 'minutia' to illustrate you are 'one who knows', and simply say it isn't so without discussing issues or demonstrating concretely why or citing sources.

9. Play Dumb. No matter what evidence or logical argument is offered, avoid discussing issues except with denials they have any credibility, make any sense, provide any proof, contain or make a point, have logic, or support a conclusion. Mix well for maximum effect.

10. Associate opponent charges with old news. A derivative of the straw man -- usually, in any large-scale matter of high visibility, someone will make charges early on which can be or were already easily dealt with - a kind of investment for the future should the matter not be so easily contained.) Where it can be foreseen, have your own side raise a straw man issue and have it dealt with early on as part of the initial contingency plans. Subsequent charges, regardless of validity or new ground uncovered, can usually then be associated with the original charge and dismissed as simply being a rehash without need to address current issues -- so much the better where the opponent is or was involved with the original source.

11. Establish and rely upon fall-back positions. Using a minor matter or element of the facts, take the 'high road' and 'confess' with candor that some innocent mistake, in hindsight, was made -- but that opponents have seized on the opportunity to blow it all out of proportion and imply greater criminalities which, 'just isn't so.' Others can reinforce this on your behalf, later, and even publicly 'call for an end to the nonsense' because you have already 'done the right thing.' Done properly, this can garner sympathy and respect for 'coming clean' and 'owning up' to your mistakes without addressing more serious issues.

12. Enigmas have no solution. Drawing upon the overall umbrella of events surrounding the crime and the multitude of players and events, paint the entire affair as too complex to solve. This causes those otherwise following the matter to begin to lose interest more quickly without having to address the actual issues.

13. Alice in Wonderland Logic. Avoid discussion of the issues by reasoning backwards or with an apparent deductive logic which forbears any actual material fact.

14. Demand complete solutions. Avoid the issues by requiring opponents to solve the crime at hand completely, a ploy which works best with issues qualifying for rule 10.

15. Fit the facts to alternate conclusions. This requires creative thinking unless the crime was planned with contingency conclusions in place.

16. Vanish evidence and witnesses. If it does not exist, it is not fact, and you won't have to address the issue.

17. Change the subject. Usually in connection with one of the other ploys listed here, find a way to side-track the discussion with abrasive or controversial comments in hopes of turning attention to a new, more manageable topic. This works especially well with companions who can 'argue' with you over the new topic and polarize the discussion arena in order to avoid discussing more key issues.

18. Emotionalize, Antagonize, and Goad Opponents. If you can't do anything else, chide and taunt your opponents and draw them into emotional responses which will tend to make them look foolish and overly motivated, and generally render their material somewhat less coherent. Not only will you avoid discussing the issues in the first instance, but even if their emotional response addresses the issue, you can further avoid the issues by then focusing on how 'sensitive they are to criticism.'

19. Ignore proof presented, demand impossible proofs. This is perhaps a variant of the 'play dumb' rule. Regardless of what material may be presented by an opponent in public forums, claim the material irrelevant and demand proof that is impossible for the opponent to come by (it may exist, but not be at his disposal, or it may be something which is known to be safely destroyed or withheld, such as a murder weapon.) In order to completely avoid discussing issues, it may be required that you to categorically deny and be critical of media or books as valid sources, deny that witnesses are acceptable, or even deny that statements made by government or other authorities have any meaning or relevance.

20. False evidence. Whenever possible, introduce new facts or clues designed and manufactured to conflict with opponent presentations -- as useful tools to neutralize sensitive issues or impede resolution. This works best when the crime was designed with contingencies for the purpose, and the facts cannot be easily separated from the fabrications.

21. Call a Grand Jury, Special Prosecutor, or other empowered investigative body. Subvert the (process) to your benefit and effectively neutralize all sensitive issues without open discussion. Once convened, the evidence and testimony are required to be secret when properly handled. For instance, if you own the prosecuting attorney, it can insure a Grand Jury hears no useful evidence and that the evidence is sealed and unavailable to subsequent investigators. Once a favorable verdict is achieved, the matter can be considered officially closed. Usually, this technique is applied to find the guilty innocent, but it can also be used to obtain charges when seeking to frame a victim.

22. Manufacture a new truth. Create your own expert(s), group(s), author(s), leader(s) or influence existing ones willing to forge new ground via scientific, investigative, or social research or testimony which concludes favorably. In this way, if you must actually address issues, you can do so authoritatively.

23. Create bigger distractions. If the above does not seem to be working to distract from sensitive issues, or to prevent unwanted media coverage of unstoppable events such as trials, create bigger news stories (or treat them as such) to distract the multitudes.

24. Silence critics. If the above methods do not prevail, consider removing opponents from circulation by some definitive solution so that the need to address issues is removed entirely. This can be by their death, arrest and detention, blackmail or destruction of their character by release of blackmail information, or merely by destroying them financially, emotionally, or severely damaging their health.

25. Vanish. If you are a key holder of secrets or otherwise overly illuminated and you think the heat is getting too hot, to avoid the issues, vacate the kitchen.

3) Eight Traits of the Disinformationalist

1) Avoidance. They never actually discuss issues head-on or provide constructive input, generally avoiding citation of references or credentials. Rather, they merely imply this, that, and the other. Virtually everything about their presentation implies their authority and expert knowledge in the matter without any further justification for credibility.

2) Selectivity. They tend to pick and choose opponents carefully, either applying the hit-and-run approach against mere commentators supportive of opponents, or focusing heavier attacks on key opponents who are known to directly address issues. Should a commentator become argumentative with any success, the focus will shift to include the commentator as well.

3) Coincidental. They tend to surface suddenly and somewhat coincidentally with a new controversial topic with no clear prior record of participation in general discussions in the particular public arena involved. They likewise tend to vanish once the topic is no longer of general concern. They were likely directed or elected to be there for a reason, and vanish with the reason.

4) Teamwork. They tend to operate in self-congratulatory and complementary packs or teams. Of course, this can happen naturally in any public forum, but there will likely be an ongoing pattern of frequent exchanges of this sort where professionals are involved. Sometimes one of the players will infiltrate the opponent camp to become a source for straw man or other tactics designed to dilute opponent presentation strength.

5) Anti-conspiratorial. They almost always have disdain for 'conspiracy theorists' and, usually, for those who in any way believe JFK was not killed by LHO. Ask yourself why, if they hold such disdain for conspiracy theorists, do they focus on defending a single topic discussed in a NG focusing on conspiracies? One might think they would either be trying to make fools of everyone on every topic, or simply ignore the group they hold in such disdain. Or, one might more rightly conclude they have an ulterior motive for their actions in going out of their way to focus as they do.

6) Artificial Emotions. An odd kind of 'artificial' emotionalism and an unusually thick skin -- an ability to persevere and persist even in the face of overwhelming criticism and unacceptance. This likely stems from intelligence community training that, no matter how condemning the evidence, deny everything, and never become emotionally involved or reactive. The net result for a disinfo artist is that emotions can seem artificial.

Most people, if responding in anger, for instance, will express their animosity throughout their rebuttal. But disinfo types usually have trouble maintaining the 'image' and are hot and cold with respect to pretended emotions and their usually more calm or unemotional communications style. It's just a job, and they often seem unable to 'act their role in character' as well in a communications medium as they might be able in a real face-to-face conversation/confrontation. You might have outright rage and indignation one moment, ho-hum the next, and more anger later -- an emotional yo-yo.

With respect to being thick-skinned, no amount of criticism will deter them from doing their job, and they will generally continue their old disinfo patterns without any adjustments to criticisms of how obvious it is that they play that game -- where a more rational individual who truly cares what others think might seek to improve their communications style, substance, and so forth, or simply give up.

7) Inconsistent. There is also a tendency to make mistakes which betray their true self/motives. This may stem from not really knowing their topic, or it may be somewhat 'freudian', so to speak, in that perhaps they really root for the side of truth deep within.

I have noted that often, they will simply cite contradictory information which neutralizes itself and the author. For instance, one such player claimed to be a Navy pilot, but blamed his poor communicating skills (spelling, grammar, incoherent style) on having only a grade-school education. I'm not aware of too many Navy pilots who don't have a college degree. Another claimed no knowledge of a particular topic/situation but later claimed first-hand knowledge of it.

8) Time Constant. Recently discovered, with respect to News Groups, is the response time factor. There are three ways this can be seen to work, especially when the government or other empowered player is involved in a cover up operation:

a) ANY NG posting by a targeted proponent for truth can result in an IMMEDIATE response. The government and other empowered players can afford to pay people to sit there and watch for an opportunity to do some damage. SINCE DISINFO IN A NG ONLY WORKS IF THE READER SEES IT - FAST RESPONSE IS CALLED FOR, or the visitor may be swayed towards truth.

b) When dealing in more direct ways with a disinformationalist, such as email, DELAY IS CALLED FOR - there will usually be a minimum of a 48-72 hour delay. This allows a sit-down team discussion on response strategy for best effect, and even enough time to 'get permission' or instruction from a formal chain of command.

c) In the NG example 1) above, it will often ALSO be seen that bigger guns are drawn and fired after the same 48-72 hours delay - the team approach in play. This is especially true when the targeted truth seeker or their comments are considered more important with respect to potential to reveal truth. Thus, a serious truth sayer will be attacked twice for the same sin.

4) How to Spot a Spy (Cointelpro Agent)

One way to neutralize a potential activist is to get them to be in a group that does all the wrong things. Why?

1) The message doesn't get out.

2) A lot of time is wasted

3) The activist is frustrated and discouraged

4) Nothing good is accomplished.

FBI and Police Informers and Infiltrators will infest any group and they have phoney activist organizations established. Their purpose is to prevent any real movement for justice or eco-peace from developing in this country.

Agents come in small, medium or large. They can be of any ethnic background. They can be male or female.

The actual size of the group or movement being infiltrated is irrelevant. It is the potential the movement has for becoming large which brings on the spies and saboteurs.

This booklet lists tactics agents use to slow things down, foul things up, destroy the movement and keep tabs on activists. It is the agent's job to keep the activist from quitting such a group, thus keeping him/her under control.

In some situations, to get control, the agent will tell the activist:

"You're dividing the movement."

This invites guilty feelings. Many people can be controlled by guilt. The agents begin relationships with activists behind a well-developed mask of "dedication to the cause." Because of their often declared dedication, (and actions designed to prove this), when they criticize the activist, he or she - being truly dedicated to the movement - becomes convinced that somehow, any issues are THEIR fault. This is because a truly dedicated person tends to believe that everyone has a conscience and that nobody would dissimulate and lie like that "on purpose." It's amazing how far agents can go in manipulating an activist because the activist will constantly make excuses for the agent who regularly declares their dedication to the cause. Even if they do, occasionally, suspect the agent, they will pull the wool over their own eyes by rationalizing: "they did that unconsciously... they didn't really mean it... I can help them by being forgiving and accepting " and so on and so forth.

The agent will tell the activist:

"You're a leader!"

This is designed to enhance the activist's self-esteem. His or her narcissistic admiration of his/her own activist/altruistic intentions increase as he or she identifies with and consciously admires the altruistic declarations of the agent which are deliberately set up to mirror those of the activist.

This is "malignant pseudoidentification." It is the process by which the agent consciously imitates or simulates a certain behavior to foster the activist's identification with him/her, thus increasing the activist's vulnerability to exploitation. The agent will simulate the more subtle self-concepts of the activist.

Activists and those who have altruistic self-concepts are most vulnerable to malignant pseudoidentification especially during work with the agent when the interaction includes matter relating to their competency, autonomy, or knowledge. The goal of the agent is to increase the activist's general empathy for the agent through pseudo-identification with the activist's self-concepts.

The most common example of this is the agent who will compliment the activist for his competency or knowledge or value to the movement. On a more subtle level, the agent will simulate affects and mannerisms of the activist which promotes identification via mirroring and feelings of "twinship". It is not unheard of for activists, enamored by the perceived helpfulness and competence of a good agent, to find themselves considering ethical violations and perhaps, even illegal behavior, in the service of their agent/handler.

The activist's "felt quality of perfection" [self-concept] is enhanced, and a strong empathic bond is developed with the agent through his/her imitation and simulation of the victim's own narcissistic investments. [self-concepts] That is, if the activist knows, deep inside, their own dedication to the cause, they will project that onto the agent who is "mirroring" them.

The activist will be deluded into thinking that the agent shares this feeling of identification and bonding. In an activist/social movement setting, the adversarial roles that activists naturally play vis a vis the establishment/government, fosters ongoing processes of intrapsychic splitting so that "twinship alliances" between activist and agent may render whole sectors or reality testing unavailable to the activist. They literally "lose touch with reality."

Activists who deny their own narcissistic investments [do not have a good idea of their own self-concepts and that they ARE concepts] and consciously perceive themselves (accurately, as it were) to be "helpers" endowed with a special amount of altruism are exceedingly vulnerable to the affective (emotional) simulation of the accomplished agent.

Empathy is fostered in the activist through the expression of quite visible affects. The presentation of tearfulness, sadness, longing, fear, remorse, and guilt, may induce in the helper-oriented activist a strong sense of compassion, while unconsciously enhancing the activist's narcissistic investment in self as the embodiment of goodness.

The agent's expresssion of such simulated affects may be quite compelling to the observer and difficult to distinguish from deep emotion.

It can usually be identified by two events, however:

First, the activist who has analyzed his/her own narcissistic roots and is aware of his/her own potential for being "emotionally hooked," will be able to remain cool and unaffected by such emotional outpourings by the agent.

As a result of this unaffected, cool, attitude, the Second event will occur: The agent will recompensate much too quickly following such an affective expression leaving the activist with the impression that "the play has ended, the curtain has fallen," and the imposture, for the moment, has finished. The agent will then move quickly to another activist/victim.

The fact is, the movement doesn't need leaders, it needs MOVERS. "Follow the leader" is a waste of time.

A good agent will want to meet as often as possible. He or she will talk a lot and say little. One can expect an onslaught of long, unresolved discussions.

Some agents take on a pushy, arrogant, or defensive manner:

1) To disrupt the agenda

2) To side-track the discussion

3) To interrupt repeatedly

4) To feign ignorance

5) To make an unfounded accusation against a person.

Calling someone a racist, for example. This tactic is used to discredit a person in the eyes of all other group members.

Saboteurs

Some saboteurs pretend to be activists. She or he will ....

1) Write encyclopedic flyers (in the present day, websites)

2) Print flyers in English only.

3) Have demonstrations in places where no one cares.

4) Solicit funding from rich people instead of grass roots support

5) Display banners with too many words that are confusing.

6) Confuse issues.

7) Make the wrong demands.

8) Compromise the goal.

9) Have endless discussions that waste everyone's time. The agent may accompany the endless discussions with drinking, pot smoking or other amusement to slow down the activist's work.

Provocateurs

1) Want to establish "leaders" to set them up for a fall in order to stop the movement.

2) Suggest doing foolish, illegal things to get the activists in trouble.

3) Encourage militancy.

4) Want to taunt the authorities.

5) Attempt to make the activist compromise their values.

6) Attempt to instigate violence. Activisim ought to always be non-violent.

7) Attempt to provoke revolt among people who are ill-prepared to deal with the reaction of the authorities to such violence.

Informants

1) Want everyone to sign up and sing in and sign everything.

2) Ask a lot of questions (gathering data).

3) Want to know what events the activist is planning to attend.

4) Attempt to make the activist defend him or herself to identify his or her beliefs, goals, and level of committment.

Recruiting

Legitimate activists do not subject people to hours of persuasive dialog. Their actions, beliefs, and goals speak for themselves.

Groups that DO recruit are missionaries, military, and fake political parties or movements set up by agents.

Surveillance

ALWAYS assume that you are under surveillance.

At this point, if you are NOT under surveillance, you are not a very good activist!

Scare Tactics

They use them.

Such tactics include slander, defamation, threats, getting close to disaffected or minimally committed fellow activists to persuade them (via psychological tactics described above) to turn against the movement and give false testimony against their former compatriots. They will plant illegal substances on the activist and set up an arrest; they will plant false information and set up "exposure," they will send incriminating letters [emails] in the name of the activist; and more; they will do whatever society will allow.

This booklet in no way covers all the ways agents use to sabotage the lives of sincere an dedicated activists.

If an agent is "exposed," he or she will be transferred or replaced.

COINTELPRO is still in operation today under a different code name. It is no longer placed on paper where it can be discovered through the freedom of information act.

The FBI counterintelligence program's stated purpose: To expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, and otherwise neutralize individuals who the FBI categorize as opposed to the National Interests. "National Security" means the FBI's security from the people ever finding out the vicious things it does in violation of people's civil liberties.

5) Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Strong, credible allegations of high-level criminal activity can bring down a government. When the government lacks an effective, fact-based defense, other techniques must be employed. The success of these techniques depends heavily upon a cooperative, compliant press and a mere token opposition party.

1. Dummy up. If it's not reported, if it's not news, it didn't happen.

2. Wax indignant. This is also known as the "How dare you?" gambit.

3. Characterize the charges as "rumors" or, better yet, "wild rumors." If, in spite of the news blackout, the public is still able to learn about the suspicious facts, it can only be through "rumors." (If they tend to believe the "rumors" it must be because they are simply "paranoid" or "hysterical.")

4. Knock down straw men. Deal only with the weakest aspects of the weakest charges. Even better, create your own straw men. Make up wild rumors (or plant false stories) and give them lead play when you appear to debunk all the charges, real and fanciful alike.

5. Call the skeptics names like "conspiracy theorist," "nutcase," "ranter," "kook," "crackpot," and, of course, "rumor monger." Be sure, too, to use heavily loaded verbs and adjectives when characterizing their charges and defending the "more reasonable" government and its defenders. You must then carefully avoid fair and open debate with any of the people you have thus maligned. For insurance, set up your own "skeptics" to shoot down.

6. Impugn motives. Attempt to marginalize the critics by suggesting strongly that they are not really interested in the truth but are simply pursuing a partisan political agenda or are out to make money (compared to over-compensated adherents to the government line who, presumably, are not).

7. Invoke authority. Here the controlled press and the sham opposition can be very useful.

8. Dismiss the charges as "old news."

9. Come half-clean. This is also known as "confession and avoidance" or "taking the limited hangout route." This way, you create the impression of candor and honesty while you admit only to relatively harmless, less-than-criminal "mistakes." This stratagem often requires the embrace of a fall-back position quite different from the one originally taken. With effective damage control, the fall-back position need only be peddled by stooge skeptics to carefully limited markets.

10. Characterize the crimes as impossibly complex and the truth as ultimately unknowable.

11. Reason backward, using the deductive method with a vengeance. With thoroughly rigorous deduction, troublesome evidence is irrelevant. E.g. We have a completely free press. If evidence exists that the Vince Foster "suicide" note was forged, they would have reported it. They haven't reported it so there is no such evidence. Another variation on this theme involves the likelihood of a conspiracy leaker and a press who would report the leak.

12. Require the skeptics to solve the crime completely. E.g. If Foster was murdered, who did it and why?

13. Change the subject. This technique includes creating and/or publicizing distractions.

14. Lightly report incriminating facts, and then make nothing of them. This is sometimes referred to as "bump and run" reporting.

15. Baldly and brazenly lie. A favorite way of doing this is to attribute the "facts" furnished the public to a plausible-sounding, but anonymous, source.

16. Expanding further on numbers 4 and 5, have your own stooges "expose" scandals and champion popular causes. Their job is to pre-empt real opponents and to play 99-yard football. A variation is to pay rich people for the job who will pretend to spend their own money.

17. Flood the Internet with agents. This is the answer to the question, "What could possibly motivate a person to spend hour upon hour on Internet news groups defending the government and/or the press and harassing genuine critics?" Don t the authorities have defenders enough in all the newspapers, magazines, radio, and television? One would think refusing to print critical letters and screening out serious callers or dumping them from radio talk shows would be control enough, but, obviously, it is not.

That's it! This is the end! Thank you so much for reading!

I know this is a hell of a lot of information, much more than casual reading, and can be intense or confusing at times.

Please don't feel like you have to memorize it all at once, or even at all. Instead just keep it handy, share it around, and make backups both on your own and on other sites! Keep the information available for yourself and others so it doesn't disappear!

Also remember that all these tactics play off of normal human emotions and psychologies, intentionally impersonate genuine community interaction, and deliberately attempt to play activists against each other. The tactics are meant to be contagious, to be copied and repeated by even good-faith activists for maximum disruptive effect. If you see someone online who fits a few, some, or even most/all these tips, it's important not to directly engage them or to call them out, but to simply be aware of it and avoid them.

It's just like dealing with regular, everyday trolls: the more interaction you give them, the more you feed them amplification and traction. They know how to most effectively fight direct confrontation. They cannot fight against awareness and outright rejection. Deplatform them, starve them, and make them irrelevant.

Above all else, take care of yourself and keep supporting causes you believe in!

[designedbyshyne]

2022 in review ❊ my character arc & how I turned a solo freelance gig into a growing studio

We have to look backwards to go forwards.

By the end of Summer 2021 (only a year into business), I was completely and utterly burnt out. After surviving the pon de replay, taking a semester off from college, turning my side hobby e-com shop into a freelance branding business, and then exploring brand strategy and 1:1 coaching, I was TIRED.

After a short hiatus, I decided to start working with an amazing Business and Leadership Coach to help me figure out how to revive Designed by Shyne in a way that aligned with my true goals, desires, and strengths.

Immediately, I was confronted by a fork in the road– out of my distaste for the traditional "solopreneur to agency owner" pipeline, I'd subconsciously limited myself to a liminal space. Ni aqui, ni alla. Operationally, I could not keep doing business on my own. But then that meant I would have to hire people to help me serve the clients I wanted to serve and do the work that wasn't in my zone of genius, and that would mean building an agency.

I really, really didn't want to start an agency, especially not while I was still in college full-time.

You see, when you come from design school, you're presented with three options: join an agency, work in house at a company, or freelance. Nobody really says, "Start an agency." And in my mind, "agency" was a bad word, an icky place akin to a creative sweatshop where dreams go to die and starry-eyed designers devolve into cynical pixel pushers.

Not only did an agency model feel like a disservice to my dream, it felt scary. I didn't want to be an agency owner at the time; I wanted to be a college student making some decent easy money. What would I do with all that responsibility and pressure?

But then, as my new Business Coach led me deeper into my own thoughts and goals, I realized I didn't have a choice. I was dead set on making a huge, deep impact. I wanted big brands with big scopes of work. I wanted high ticket projects. And I wanted to stay in school and only operate in my zone of genius. So, unwavering on all of these fronts, the only way to have my cake and eat it too was to commit to building an agency.

And like I always tell my clients, you can build your business YOUR way. See, I had forgotten one obvious truth: I didn't have to build my agency the way other agencies had been built. I could build it better, more innovative, more humane, and more focused on deep creativity and impact.

So that's what I did.

At the beginning of this year (January 2022), I committed publicly to building THE go-to branding "anti-agency" for disruptors and visionaries, and I have done just that.

I turned "me" into "we" with a stellar Avengers lineup of team members and contractors.

I brought in 6-figures of sales while juggling school full-time.

I spoke at The Conference and attended Adobe MAX as an Express Ambassador.

I taught courses and hosted workshops both online and in person to bring creative education and inspiration to entrepreneurs and students worldwide.

I went on multiple Adobe Livestreams and podcasts.

We worked with 27 brands including Adobe, Continuum, Norby, Your Social Team, Shopify, and Pineapple.

We designed 8 brand identities and co-created 12 brand strategies with our amazing clients.

We organically grew our online community The Sun Spot to 200+ members.

We hosted our first IRL event during LA Tech Week.

We were featured in 7 publications.

All within a year.

All because I decided to commit to being the change I wanted to see in the space.

See, most "agencies" only care about big fancy clients and bottom lines. They want to be known for their work and book of business. But here, at Designed by Shyne, we want to be known as a genre-defining example of how to BUILD studios/agencies/etc. for generations to come.

So here's to an epic first year.

[losthomunculus]

Online Safety Relevant to the Current State of the Internet

On twitter I made a tweet about how online safety lessons in school can be very out of touch but that the advice of people who are familiar with the current internet shouldn't be disregarded. So here's my informal collection of online safety tips

Sources: unrestricted internet access since elementary school (not recommended), being a formerly involuntarily home bound person for several years that amassed way too much online experience

This could possibly hold upsetting reminders to people who had bad experiences online including mentions of grooming and emotional manipulation so please proceed with caution!

Information Sharing

Make an online pseudonym for public profiles and websites.

Don’t feel like you have to list everything about you for the world to see.

Sometimes it’s not a question of “can this information be used to locate and identify me irl?”, but simply “do I want this information publicly available and linked to my online persona?”

Unlike offline, being online leaves a constant trail of who you were accessible at all times. People are constantly growing and changing. Try to limit the information you share so you can ditch that trail and start over if need be.

Sharing information with people you make friends with and trust is a judgement call on your part, but always be on the safe side and be protective of your information.

Start as cautious as possible with online safety. Any risks or judgement calls can come later when you are 1. aware of the risks, 2. ready to address them if they occur, and 3. have gathered plenty of information instead of doing something blindly and hoping for the best.

Do not share your triggers publicly, they can very easily be used against you. Instead use websites with a large amount of filtering options to curate your online experience. If you are going to share them, only do it privately with people you trust.

Importance of Boundaries

It doesn’t matter how mature you are, don’t enter age limited spaces you don’t qualify for. It’s disrespectful to the boundaries of the people who made that space. Boundaries like this exist for the comfort of both sides involved.

Just because you can “handle it” doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Desensitization is not something to brag about.

Venting or making r18 posts as a minor on a public account is VERY dangerous. Intense emotional vulnerability is something manipulators will look for as a way to get to you. The same with sexual jokes to develop your comfort talking about those topics casually and eventually escalating the situation. If you are going to talk about such things please keep that in private conversations with people you trust in your age group.

Note the difference between public and private online space. Tweeting something on a public account is not the same as having a conversation in the cafeteria with your friends.

If an adult tries talking to you about r18, run the other way. Doesn’t matter how cool you are, it says something weird about THEM if they’re willing to talk to a minor about that stuff.

If someone( like 3+ years, honestly depends on how old you are) older than you wouldn't be comfortable saying what they're saying to you in front of other people (like a teacher or guardian), that's suspicious as hell. Run in the other direction.

The younger you are, the more age gaps matter. There's a bigger difference in development between a 13 year old and a 17 year old than there is between a 20 year old and a 24 year old. It helps to try to contextualize it with real people instead of numbers. Instead of thinking "oh just 4 years? that's not that weird" consider "oh. that would be like a freshman (13/14) dating a senior (17/18). yikes."

Be just as wary of people your own age talking about things that make you uncomfortable. Just like irl, sometimes you’ll meet people your age that are hurtful.

Friends complain to each other and talk about their issues, that alone is fine. But when people are doing it without permission, draw a line. When people are making it feel like you’re responsible for maintaining their mental health, you need to draw a line. When it starts to effect your mental health, PLEASE DRAW A LINE! I know it feels like your responsibility sometimes, but it’s not. You cannot be there for others if you’re not taking care of yourself first and foremost.

Don’t be afraid to block people. Even for petty reasons. It’s good to block people. Don’t force yourself to see stuff you don’t want to see.

Being Constantly Online

The 24 hour news cycle is not a good thing to follow 24/7. Taking social responsibility is a good thing, but your brain is NOT built to worry about every issue in the world at once. One strategy I use for staying sane is I try to only check the news once a day, and if something needs more attention to set aside an amount of time I’m going to focus on it before I need to take time to step back.

Touch grass. Not literally, unless you can in which case I highly suggest it, sometimes it’s just good to lay in a field. What I mean is you need to dedicate a good portion of your time to being offline (sleep does not count). What your offline time looks like is going to differ depending on your level of ability, but even if you are house bound it’s important to build some hobbies that don’t rely on the internet. Talking to people offline is also a good goal if possible, even just to your housemates.

Social etiquette greatly differs online and offline and sometimes the reminder that were all just Some People gets lost behind the numbers and the fabricated personas. Keep in mind the difference in how information is shared without forgetting that the fact we are all people remains the same.

Be generous with your etiquette. You will avoid a lot of stress if you conduct yourself with the same politeness you would have in an offline interaction. Master the art of "minding your own business" for your own sake.

Arguments and Competition

As soon as you can, you need to internalize the fact that leaving an argument is not losing.

It is inevitable you will be exposed to many people who disagree with you. Some people only want to argue to rile you up. Sometimes that’s not their intention, but it’s what they’re doing. You do not have to remain in conversation with people, especially if they’re not interested in actually coming to an understanding. Even if they are interested, sometimes they just suck!! Leave!! You can leave!!

On that note, sometimes you are going to get valid criticism and it’s going to hurt. That is part of learning. If someone says you messed up and did something hurtful, take a second to step back from your defensiveness and consider: intent ≠ effect. Apologize, repair what you can, and move forward with the ability to do better in the future. You’re going to mess up every once in awhile, it’s inevitable.

To summarize the past two points: don't waste your time on unnecessary hostility but don't close yourself into an echo chamber either. Debates should be about learning.

Sometimes people are not going to like you. This happens offline too but people tend to be a lot more blunt online. Sometimes people dislike you for no reason or for really petty reasons. That’s not your problem, move on.

Don’t actively seek out people you don’t like or who don’t like you to argue with. Whether or not your side is the “right side” doesn’t matter, it’s going to cause you so much unnecessary stress. Feel free to keep posting your opinions on your own profile but don’t seek out unnecessary conflict.

This is a different type of competition than previously mentioned, but be aware of the danger of comparing yourself to other people. Especially if you’re a creative or student, DO NOT GET SWEPT UP IN THE GRIND CULTURE. It’s more subtle in some places than others, but anytime you see the notion that you should be working yourself to the bone be VERY critical. Also be critical of any online cultures (such as gaming and art communities) that brag about unhealthy habits or act like it’s ~part of the culture~ (ex: all nighters, not taking breaks, getting hurt. Any activity that neglects health to work toward a goal).

Not just grind culture, any community of subculture that shares anti recovery sentiments is a huge red flag. Even if they're joking, it's not worth the risk of internalizing those statements.

Everyone’s social media presence is to some degree doctored because it’s a purposefully selected collection of what they allow you to see. It’s fine to like the persona you see being displayed, but never forget that it is not reflective of the entire person. Everyone online is JUST SOME PERSON. Do not forget that and start holding yourself to a standard you can’t even see every side of.

By posting online you are opening yourself to criticism. Whether or not it’s justified can vary, but either way it’s going to happen. Mute stuff, go private, disable comments, etc if you need to.

Misc Tidbits

these are technically just general info that is also good for offline but I have seen things that make me think people online need the extra reminder.

Learn what cults are, how they recruit, and what they do to their members. I'm not kidding. This is particularly relevant at the moment because of current societal unrest and widespread loneliness. No one is immune to cult propaganda, and not every cult is based on pre established religion or family. Many exist ONLINE and are able to manipulate people without ever meeting face to face. (learn more: Loneliness as a Pandemic: The Dangers of Online Cult

Familiarize yourself with the concept of pseudoscience. Please familiarize yourself with the concept of pseudoscience and then learn how to identify pseudoscience. (learn more: Karl Popper, Science, & Pseudoscience: Crash Course Philosophy #8)

Q. How do I know if a source is reliable?

Final Thoughts

It's important people of ALL ages learn these lessons, because the internet is constantly changing and we are all vulnerable when in the presence of other people.

Be cautious and stay safe

[femmespoiled]

I understand your frustration, but I'm not convinced it is a bad thing that I make it known I am cis. For society to move past the idea that pronouns in bio means you're trans, we need a lot more cis people putting their pronouns in bio. Especially those who effortlessly get gendered correctly both IRL and online, because they have nothing to gain personally. I actively use they/them for people who don't have pronouns in bio, knowing full well they're cis and take it for granted that I can tell. Because I don't think pronouns is something we should be taking for granted or be able to tell.

It's a little odd to talk about what your girlfriend said to you and not to her, but since this is where it started I will. My point is that I'm using it for you, all of the time, that I'm not just bringing it out as gotcha in a debate with transphobes. Using my cis privilege would be to not mention I'm cis because I don't have to. I would distance myself from people who need to tell people what gender they are, and I would prop up cis people who think it's ridiculous to call themselves cis women when they're "obviously just women." There are cis women and trans women, and we are equal, or at least ought to be, and me not disclosing that I'm cis is a disservice to that cause. I don't think I would be a safe space for trans people if they thought I was trans when I'm not. Just like how I disclose that I'm white, not as some positive quality but as a disclaimer so that if I do something racist I get called out on it and corrected.

I can see how it can come across as a badge of honour to be cis and white, but that's not how I see it, and I don't know how we can achieve both things. If I anonymise my gender and race I become whatever the observer wants me to be to my benefit.

this is public, this is a public post. I want you to listen to me as a nonbinary person and my girlfriend as a trans woman talking about our very own experiences, and maybe put more importance to that than pissing off transphobes or showing yourself off as an ally, which is whats coming off of what you're doing. As somebody in the issue, I don't need to convince you. I'm just saying a lot of the time it seems like cis people prioritize much more pissing off transphobes than actually listening to trans people. You're not doing it for me, I'm actively telling you what I think of cis in the bio, I also mentioned how I don't like putting white in the bio as a nonbinary poc lol because if you're racist or transphobic regardless of gender and ethnicity you should be called out. The system is racist, sexist and transphobic which because we all grew up in it turns out not just white cis people are sexist, racist transphobic.

USING YOUR CIS PRIVILEGE WOULD BE HELPING MAKE TRANS VOICES BE HEARD, instead of speaking over us.

Not disclosing you're cis normalises people not needing to know you're cis or trans, just hopefully treating you respectfully regardless of that knowledge.

Now this is the last ask I'll reply about this. Have a lovely day.

[1111jenx]

Do you think there's placements that indicate that someone love having friends online but doesn't necessarily like/want it irl ? like hanging out on discord is cool, hanging out with people in my home/in the exterior ? nah thanks fhhf

isnt the 8th house about the internet...? or was it aquarius i can't remember ? but i do have a little uranus in the 8th in aquarius ahah and my 7th/11th/5th and 9th houses are empty ? and i've understood that some of these could have a link with friends ?

Hi love!

I love this question omg that's so interesting! I do have some thoughts about this for some time now. Let's talk about it:)

Interesting enough, different people perceive this differently. Some astrologers perceive the 3rd house and many use it based off horary astrology to interpret certain charts and it makes sense since 3rd house do have power over communication. However, some others believe the internet is in fact ruled by the 10th house or the 11th house, since the 10th house got to do with the public and what we do with our reputation, but the 11th house gives meaning to the 10th house, by dissecting it and opening it up to not only your persona but your friends, your dreams, whats gives us meanings and connections. Its not just about you anymore but expand it wider to us as a whole. It deals with organizations, companions and it expands on the idea of cooperation.

So again, depends on how you interpret the internet, we can use different houses. Do you think its just a place where you considered an "everyday environment"? Then we'll use the 3rd house. Do you consider it a place where it brings people together? Then we use the 10th and the 11th house.

Getting back to your question luv, I think people who enjoy the internet yet may be reserved in public, social settings may have a noticeable chart with clear fixed and cardinal energy. Since I have been noticing this for a while, mutable people can be very sociable and they easily adapt pretty much everywhere and especially if they're Mercury-ruled, depending on the rest of their chart can literally vibe with anyone anywhere. Cardinal energy can become the same yet they're also highkey fixed people in the sense they seek the familiar energy they crave. Meaning they tend to wander but always come to that one place they love. They're like a fine blend of mutable and fixed energy, so if they feel like the public settings aren't their cup of tea, they would prefer friends online who understand them and whom energies they are familiar with. Fixed people are stubborn af haha but we've been knew! So they can maintain both lives pretty well but they also have similar mentality like cardinal people, its just that they're very realistic so they if they acc grow to love the friends they met online, they will initiate to meet them!(cardinal mix with fixed can manifest this too!)

I think people with 12th house placements/9th house placements/3rd house placements and sometimes 6th house placements may particularly love having friends online. They like how effortless it can feel sometime and these mutable houses need acceptance above all else. Once they receive that its very hard for them to let go! Gemini placements and Virgo placements along with Libra placements or Sagittarius placements might love this dynamic a lot!! They tend to have a nice circle of friends and they get to do this through the internet:)

I think Lilith also plays an important part, because once again, expanding on the idea of the 11th house "bringing people together", Lilith dominant people can unconsciously search for a safe space where they feel accepted and understood. They need to be wary of this though since while the Internet is filled with amazing people, there are bad people too. Lilith in the social houses (air houses) and cardinal houses understand this the most. Also I think a damaged Moon or Moon in mutable houses people also tend to enjoy escapism on the internet a lot!! Venus also plays an important factor too, I think Venus in mutable houses can manifest the same energy as Moon, but Venus in mutable houses don't seek for acceptance but rather for company and expansion in my opinions! Jupiter in the air houses and in house 10th, 12th and 3rd may also love the internet a lot!! Jupiter in 12th house love whats hidden and they enjoy having a safe place they can retreat to:)

So these are some of my observations so far! Keep in mind this is purely based off my own limited research love<33 Everyone can be vastly different depending on their own personal placements and its aspects:D However, I would love to hear others opinions this🤎 Hope this helps you baddie!

love,

saint jenx🪐

[ghostietea]

Furuba autistic headcanons

With it being April, or autism acceptance month, I wanted to finally drop my list of characters from Fruits Basket that I read as autistic! This is based a lot on my own experience, as well as that of other autistics I know or have seen talk online. I hope some people can get something out of it, feel free to tell me what you think 😊, though please refrain from getting upset that I would dare suggest your fave is autistic.

Hanajima

Before becoming able to better control her powers, she would be constantly overwhelmed by the things she heard to the point that she couldn't even really go out in public. This reads a lot like sensory overload.

Constantly picked on in school because other kids thought she was weird. Eventually reclaimed this weirdness and turned it into a whole persona.

Seems to talk usually in a relatively flat tone.

Had trouble socializing with no friends outside her family until middleschool.

Has a very funny, dry sense of humor that I find very similar to a bunch of autistics I know, including myself.

Hatsuharu

Listen. You have seen the funky little man, you have seen the way he talks, the way he acts around others. He is, and I mean this in the best way, a weirdo. I do not know how you could look at him and see a neurotypical.

Once again, like Hana, Haru is funny in a way that feels very autistic.

Very flat, dry, tone delivery. Sometimes just Says Things that make everyone else go huh??? Suuuuper blunt. Doesn't emote facially a lot of the time.

When this man sees a social norm he doesn't get he WILL NOT follow it. Pierces his ears just because his hair got flak, defends Momiji wearing whatever he wants because sometimes y'know the social rules are just dumb and don't make sense. Especially dress codes.

Sometimes says things not befitting the current tone of the situation.

Represses (masks) a lot of his emotions, leading to outbursts that seem uncharacteristic.

His main childhood trauma revolves around adults branding him as "dumb" and ridiculing him. Haru, however, is super smart and wise!! Just in an offbeat way that not everyone may get.

Machi

Reads as very "flat" emotionally to the point that others would call her boring. Also has a flat vocal delivery.

Relies on specific habits or ways of doing things or else she gets super upset (her hatred of imperfection.

Has trauma surrounding adults completely misconstruing her intentions and thinking she's doing something malicious when she's not.

Generally behaves in a way that's hard for others to understand, one of her formative moments with Yuki was him saying he wanted to "see how the world looks" through her eyes.

Once again, trouble socializing.

Tries super hard to please her parents but in the end they still see her as somehow inherently "defective."

Listen. A lot of this one and the last two are mostly vibes, hard to verbally define. You just have to look at them and trust me.

Tohru

Displays behavior very reminiscent of masking throughout the story, a huge part of her arc is about how she hides a lot of herself and has a very controlled persona. I think it would fit very well if she had other autistic behaviors that she suppresed also it helps explain why she is relatively socially adept, it's learned behavior to make people like her more.

Yes she is very good at saying what others need to hear, but especially early on she is pretty blatantly imitating her mother's words. She only gets better at getting through on a more personal level later on (see her with Rin and Akito v. early series Tohru). She does this by relating her own experiences, a very autistic way of showing empathy that often gets us written off as self centered. The way she relays things her mom said could also be seen as this, and she even worries at a few points that she's being insensitive for going on about things like that.

While emotionally repressed she is hyper empathetic and feels other's emotions so strongly she cries.

Her speech patterns are all imitated from her father and she often copies verbal things from others (see Ritchan-san). Noted in canon that people think her way of speaking is slightly off/not befitting of someone her age. Additionally, her father was polite more sarcastically, while she plays it straight and sometimes takes things very literally or fails to get the message, indicating trouble with reading tone. Has numerous strange verbal tics, including saying parts of her internal monologue out loud without context.

Very expressive with her hands including waving them around and flapping them up and down.

Does have a bit of trouble with accidental insensitivity in social interactions, like how she constantly fixates on her mom and realizes that might bug the Sohma.

Has trouble paying attention in school since it doesn't have much to do with her interests

Her only friend until she was a middle schooler was her mom

Has a pretty unique outlook on things compared to others, people seem to think she's pretty eccentric. There's always a "this girl is nice but in an odd way, she's our weirdo and we love her" vibe.

Sometimes has an "inappropriate" emotional response to situations

Has a lot of trouble with change, similar to Akito. Which oh, look at the time, next hc coming up.

But first, a disclaimer. It is cathartic for me to read Akito this way, but with that reading comes the baggage that she would, mayhaps, be showing a more negative side of things... It doesn't bother me since it's a joint hc with other characters and she does develop at the end but yeah, general villain hc baggage. This is in no way me trying to excuse her being The Worst being autistic doesn't absolve you of being able to do wrong . Also, a lot of these points can and do have other explanations related to her upbringing, but things can be for more than 1 reason. With that said, she really strongly comes off as autistic to me, in a way that's sorta hard to explain. I wrote a lot more for her than the other, both because I felt I needed more to convince people and that this headcanon was more sensitive and I needed to be careful in my explanation. Also hey! She's my special interest within a special interest.

Akito

Shown to have a dislike of summer weather due to heat and brightness, could be due to sensory issues in tandem with sickness things. Also covers her ears when people raise their voice sometimes which is partially her trying to shut down opposition but also 🤔 can read a different way. She'd also avoids louder Juuni like Ritsu and Ayame because she can't handle them.

Wears pretty much the same outfit every single day. Said outfit is also pretty loose fitting.

Always seen sitting in a pretty unconventional way. Evidence:

Of course this is also the isolated in a cult thing and there is a level of her purposefully doing things to intimidate but: doesn't follow a lot of social rules (overly touchy with strangers, legit doesn't get that what she's doing is wrong, ect.). Repeatedly confused when people indicate she should act otherwise without explanation. Has a breakdown when this comes to a head and approximately says that "they" shouldn't expect her to know "common sense" if "they" never explained it to her, that the way that she was was her "common sense."

Often talks in a way uncharacteristic of her age when shown as a child in a more faux mature/pretentious way. Might just be the translation and idk how to explain it but her speech as an adult also seems off from what one would normally use in conversation. Additionally, when she tries to fake being friendly in her intro chapter, it comes of as extremely stiff and unconvincing.

Generally displays behavior that could be thought of as childish as an adult, but a lot of this behavior could also read as autistic (covering ears, emotional deregulation and meltdowns, ignorance of basic social norms, ect.). It's also important to note that she knows that this behavior makes her seem younger and more helpless to the older zodiac and uses it as a manipulation tactic. Has issues regarding people treating her like a child or only hanging out with her because of pity. While she does weaponize it, we can tell that this grates on her, as seen with her finally blowing up on Kureno, which is partially triggered by the maids saying some sorta infantalizing stuff about her. Irl, a lot of autistic adults and teens struggle with being infantalized for our behavior generally or treated as little babies that can do no wrong. Even in fandom, you see people doing stuff like jumping to call autistic adult characters, such as Entrapta from Shera, "minor coded." It is also common for us to have at least one bad experience with someone hanging around us out of pity. This is something that really gave me a similar feeling in Akito's arc. She's not a baby and she can understand and do better if she is given the chance to learn and break from all the freaky cult indoctrination she's been subjected to instead of just being constantly enabled. In the end, a lot of her growth is represented by her showing that she is capable of changing and being independent.

Shows particular difficulty with socialization, often sits by herself spacing out at social events. A lot of her fear is rooted in the fact that she doesn't know how normal relationships work, becoming overly reliant on the curse because she doesn't know how to make friends.

Clings desperately onto the notion of being "special" and in some way superior to others to be worthy and to make up for perceived inherent "flaws." It's the nd gifted kid burnout vibes for me.

Easily bothered by things that don't bother others. Feels emotions very strongly to the point of getting physically ill and has bad emotional regulation.

Relatively good at reading others in an analytical sense (though has more trouble when it comes to seeing how they feel about her since she's wildly delusional) but brings up her observations in a very cold, detached way and hurts people even on the rare occasion she didn't mean to. Has extreme trouble connecting to others and understanding their point of view. This makes her come off as pretty unempathetic even though that might not fully be the case. Also thinks that people like Momiji are trying to look down on her when they try to empathize with her. A lot of why Tohru can get through to her is that she manages to convince Akito that she's not condescending by relating shared traits and experiences. As I said earlier, autistics often empathize by sharing their own experiences with someone, and I know I often have an easier time confiding in other autistics because of a fear of being seen as lesser by those that don't understand me. I think the connection between these charachters and the way that Tohru manages to reach Akito like that while others couldn't makes a lot of sense through an autistic lense!

Additionally, when Akito herself gets around to trying to help others instead of just projecting trauma, she tries to reach out to the old maid by relating back to her own experiences. This however, doesn't work.

Has "cold" emotional reactions sometimes even to things that do make her upset. For example, how sort of calm and detached she acted after her father's death can make her seem uncaring. However, we know that this event did mess her up a lot and she is still (poorly) dealing with a lot of grief from the death of her father years later.

Copies mannerisms from others, the most blatant example is with Ren, who she directly parrots lines from as a child to Yuki.

Partly just her posturing, but gestures a lot with her hands when she talks. Also seen several times clutching her hands in her hair.

Deals extremely poorly with the idea of things changing to the point that it is a driving force of the story.

Does not understand when people tease her.

Ect. Ect. Ect. Listen, I could go on for ages but just trust me, the mean gremlin lady is autistic.

[carpisuns]

do you ever get discouraged by social media? like the fact that a lot of interactions can never go beyond the surface level since you won't get to meet a lot of people irl or the fact that numbers seem to matter so much to how others perceive you? hope this isn't too heavy, just curious to hear your thoughts

hey, sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this! but yes, i definitely know what you mean. social media can be a strange and disheartening space to be in because it's all about perception and not often about truly knowing someone. we all kind of have a version of ourselves that we put out there for the world to see, and it's not necessarily a completely false image, but it's also not the full picture, you know? and in a fandom space like this one, it's mostly built around a single interest or group of interest, which is great for surface-level bonding with people but not necessarily for a deeper relationship. so it can feel hard to build truly meaningful friendships sometimes.

i've been fortunate tho to meet some amazing people online that i now consider some of my dearest friends and closest confidants. it started with bonding over a shared interest, but then we found that we had more in common and started sharing things outside of that one interest and talking about our lives and supporting each other in both our hard times and good times. i feel really blessed and lucky to have these friends in my life, whether we ever get the chance to meet in person or not.

i'm not sure if you're actually looking for advice about this, but if you are, mine would be to just be kind and positive and enjoy interacting with people, and that may naturally lead to deeper friendship. that's how it's worked for me, at least. kinda depends on what your vibe is and how you prefer to interact online but i've made friends by sending asks/messages to people to let them know how much I enjoy their work and by hanging out in discord servers to chat about fandom stuff as well as general-interest stuff. might be a good place to start!

and as for numbers, yeah, that can be frustrating too! i'll be totally honest—i used to care way too much about numbers. at one point it lowkey became an obsession for me 😩 i'd be constantly checking to see how many followers i had and how much attention my posts were getting and i got too invested in watching the numbers go up and too frustrated when they would stagnate and most of all just too focused on comparing my following with other people's. it was especially bad on instagram bc everyone's follower count is on public display and art tends to get a lot more attention there, so i grew way faster and i also watched other people grow at like breakneck speed and leave me in the dust and i would get jealous,,,woof.

but there came a point when i realized that my focus on numbers was not healthy or enjoyable for me and it was making my fandom experience stressful and bitter rather than fun and chill. so i took a little break for a few weeks and really tried to gain some perspective with it all and it helped loads!! i mean i won't say i don't care about numbers at all anymore haha but they definitely don't have the same hold on me. my growth both here and on instagram has slowed down a lot but i honestly don't mind at all and actually may find that preferable haha. idk im just satisfied and comfortable where i am and what i find most fulfilling in fandom is my friendships and my interactions with other fans, not really the individual attention that I get. it's been nice to take the pressure off myself and not worry about performance and instead just kinda vibe lol. like i used to stress when I didn't post new art for a week, but now i just make stuff when i want to and let myself take my time and post when i'm ready instead of rushing out of some self-imposed sense of obligation.

i totally get people's desire to grow a bigger platform, especially creators who have professional ambitions, and it's awesome to celebrate with them when they hit milestones. but i hope that no matter where any of us are, we remember that our worth is not determined by our online following. and also that we are all just regular people with blogs! I think there's a tendency to treat bigger names in the fandom as like pseudo-celebrities or something (i've definitely been guilty of that ), but at the end of the day we're all just big nerds who like talking about a cartoon lol. it's nice when we can all just support each other and share content and discuss ideas and stuff without making people feel unduly pressured bc their following (like putting them on a pedestal, demanding a greater output of content, etc.) or making them feel lesser because of their lack of one. fandom is about community, not competition, and your contributions are valuable even if they get less attention that someone else's!

ok i feel like i've just rambled a lot, sorry lol idk if any of this was actually meaningful/helpful to you but i wish you the best and hope you feel less discouraged about this! 💜

[itsclydebitches]

Here's a quandary I've suddenly found myself in: where do you stand on writers deleting their own works, fanfiction or otherwise? I've had this happen to me on more than one occasion - I go to look for an old favorite and find it's since been deleted from whatever site I read it on.

On the one hand, I'm inclined to think that, "Sure. The author wrote it, it's their call. I don't own the work - I certainly didn't pay for it. It's their decision, even if it's disappointing."

But at the same time I can't help but consider the alternative - if I believe in death of the author (and I do), that an author's work fundamentally isn't solely theirs once it's been published, posted, etc., then it also seems wrong to have a work deleted. Stories aren't the sole property of their creator, after all.

But then I circle back. D'you think there are different obligations between authors and readers and the works being made in fandom space? I know if I had bought a book and the author decided they wanted it back, I would feel pretty comfortable telling them no, given I'd paid for it and whatnot. But that's a different world from fanfic and fandom space generally.

So. You're insightful Clyde, I'm curious as to what you'll have to say here (and to all y'all thinking about it, don't flame me. I haven't decided where I stand here yet - haven't heard a good nail-in-the-coffin argument for or against yet).

Val are you a mind reader now? I’ve been thinking about this exact conundrum the last few days!

(And yeah, as a general disclaimer: no flaming. Not allowed. Any asks of the sort will be deleted on sight and with great satisfaction.)

Honestly, I’m not sure there is a “nail-in-the-coffin argument” for this, just because—as you lay out—there are really good points for keeping works around and really good points for allowing authors to have control over their work, especially when fanworks have no payment/legal obligations attached. In mainstream entertainment, your stories reflect a collaborative effort (publisher, editor, cover artists, etc.) so even if it were possible to delete the physical books out of everyone’s home and library (and we're ignoring the censorship angle for the moment), that’s no longer solely the author’s call, even if they have done the lion’s share of the creative work. Though fanworks can also, obviously, be collaborative, they’re usually not collaborative in the same way (more “This fic idea came about from discord conversations, a couple tumblr posts, and that one headcanon on reddit”) and they certainly don’t have the same monetary, legal, and professional strings attached. I wrote this fic as a hobby in my free time. Don’t I have the right to delete it like I also have the right to tear apart the blankets I knit?

Well yes… but also no? I personally view fanworks as akin to gifts—the academic term for our communities is literally “gift economy”—so if we view it like that, suddenly that discomfort with getting rid of works is more pronounced. If I not only knit a blanket, but then gift it to a friend, it would indeed feel outside of my rights to randomly knock on their door one day and go, “I actually decided I hate that? Please give it back so I can tear it to shreds, thanks :)” That’s so rude! And any real friend would try to talk me out of it, explaining both why they love the blanket and, even if it’s not technically the best in terms of craftsmanship, it holds significant emotional value to them. Save it for that reason alone, at least. Fanworks carry that same meaning—“I don’t care if it’s full of typos, super cliché, and using some outdated, uncomfortable tropes. This story meant so much to me as a teenager and I’ll always love it”—but the difference in medium and relationships means it’s easier to ignore all that. I’m not going up to someone’s house and asking face-to-face to destroy something I gave them (which is awkward as hell. That alone deters us), I’m just pressing a button on my computer. I’m not asking this of a personal friend that is involved in my IRL experiences, I’m (mostly) doing this to online peers I know little, if anything, about. It’s easy to distance ourselves from both the impact of our creative work and the act of getting rid of it while online. On the flip-side though, it’s also easier to demean that work and forget that the author is a real person who put a lot of effort into this creation. If someone didn’t like my knitted blanket I gave them as a gift, they’re unlikely to tell me that. They recognize that it’s impolite and that the act of creating something for them is more important than the construction’s craftsmanship. For fanworks though, with everyone spread around the world and using made up identities, people have fewer filters, happily tearing authors to shreds in the comments, sending anon hate, and the like. The fact that we’re both prefacing this conversation with, “Please don’t flame” emphasizes that. So if I wrote a fic with some iffy tropes, “cringy” dialogue, numerous typos, whatever and enough people decided to drag me for it… I don’t know whether I’d resist the urge to just delete the fic, hopefully ending those interactions. There’s a reason why we’re constantly reminding others to express when they enjoy someone else’s work: the ratio of praise to criticism in fandom (or simply praise to seeming indifference because there was no public reaction at all), is horribly skewed.

So I personally can’t blame anyone for deleting. I’d like to hope that more people realize the importance of keeping fanworks around, that everything you put out there is loved by someone… but I’m well aware that the reality is far more complicated. It’s hard to keep that in mind. It’s hard to keep something around that you personally no longer like. Harder still to keep up a work you might be harassed over, that someone IRL discovered, that you’re disgusted with because you didn’t know better back then… there are lots of reasons why people delete and I ultimately can’t fault them for that. I think the reasons why people delete stem more from problems in fandom culture at large—trolling, legal issues, lack of positive feedback, cancel culture, etc.—than anything the author has or has not personally done, and since such work is meant to be a part of an enjoyable hobby… I can’t rightly tell anyone to shoulder those problems, problems they can’t solve themselves, just for the sake of mine or others’ enjoyment. The reason I’ve been thinking about this lately is because I was discussing Attack on Titan and how much I dislike the source material now, resulting in a very uncomfortable relationship with the fics I wrote a few years back. I’ve personally decided to keep them up and that’s largely because some have received fantastic feedback and I’m aware of how it will hurt those still in the fandom if I take them down. So if a positive experience is the cornerstone of me keeping fics up, I can only assume that negative experiences would likewise been the cornerstone of taking them down. And if getting rid of that fic helps your mental health, or solves a bullying problem, or just makes you happier… that, to me, is always more important than the fic itself.

But, of course, it’s still devastating for everyone who loses the work, which is why my compromise-y answer is to embrace options like AO3’s phenomenal orphaning policy. That’s a fantastic middle ground between saving fanworks and allowing authors to distances themselves from them. I’ve also gotten a lot more proactive about saving the works I want to have around in the future. Regardless of whether we agree with deleting works or not, the reality is we do live in a world where it happens, so best to take action on our own to save what we want to keep around. Though I respect an author’s right to delete, I also respect the reader’s right to maintain access to the work, once published, in whatever way they can. That's probably my real answer here: authors have their rights, but readers have their rights too, so if you decide to publish in the first place, be aware that these rights might, at some point, clash. I download all my favorite fics to Calibre and, when I’m earning more money (lol) I hope to print and bind many for my personal library. I’m also willing to re-share fic if others are looking for them, in order to celebrate the author’s work even if they no longer want anything to do with it. Not fanfiction in this case, but one of my fondest memories was being really into Phantom of the Opera as a kid and wanting, oh so desperately, to read Susan Kay’s Phantom. Problem was, it was out of print at the time, not available at my library, and this was before the age of popping online and finding a used copy. For all intents and purposes, based on my personal situation, this was a case of a book just disappearing from the world. So when an old fandom mom on the message boards I frequented offered to type her copy up chapter by chapter and share it with me, you can only imagine how overjoyed I was. Idk what her own situation was that something like scanning wouldn’t work, but the point is she spent months helping a fandom kid she barely knew simply because a story had resonated with her and she wanted to share it. That shit is powerful!

So if someone wants to delete—if that’s something they need right now—I believe that is, ultimately, their decision… but please try your hardest to remember that the art you put out into the world is having an impact and people will absolutely miss it when it’s gone. Often to the point of doing everything they can to put it back out into the world even if you decide to take it out. Hold onto that feeling. The love you have for your favorite fic, fanart, meta, whatever it is? Someone else has that for your work too. I guarantee it.

So take things down as needed, but for the love of everything keep copies for yourself. You may very well want to give it back to the world someday.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Any good advice for anyone especially people living in Europe on attacking/criticizing/ridiculizing Islam without the fear of receiving any kind threat and persecution?

Nope.

You're going to get accused of "hate" and you're going to get called a "racist" and you're going to be called an "Islamophobe."

Understand it, and let it go. Let it bother you in no way whatsoever.

I've been called all those things, sometimes two at the same time, if I'm lucky, all three at once. It's meaningless white noise. I'm supposed to feel guilty and fall over myself defending spurious accusations. And they're priming the pump so they can claim victory because crying "Islamophobia" lets them "walk between the raindrops."

I only wish I'd thought ahead to keeping score of the triples. I'd have kept a tally in my blog's header.

==

How you go about criticizing Islam will depend on many different factors, including your location within Europe, as it will depend on the free speech laws in your country, as well as the prevalence and attitudes of a local Islamic population.

Online is the safest. It has a wider reach, different ways to communicate, such a forums and blogs that will allow you to protect your identity and defend your right to speak. Of course that also means there's a wider potential audience (good thing) and opportunity to piss people off and accuse you of some "ism". And certain platforms have... less.... solid... reputations for supporting speech, rather than submitting to the wails of the fanatics (rhymes with "Quitter").

IRL will depend entirely on context. Without it, it’s a completely open question. Whether you're talking about writing articles or letters in a publication, debating your friends, or sitting on a street corner with an "Islam is Evil - Change My Mind" table.

In any case, make clear you're denouncing the belief system, the doctrine and the ideology, separate from individual Muslims. Except perhaps individuals who deserve it, such as Imran Khan or Anjem Choudary, based on policies they've advocated, things they've said, or attitudes they've taken.

Depending on context, get agreement up front that ideas are allowed to be criticized without ostracism. This is what an actual "safe space" is supposed to be about, by the way. For example, if participating in a debate, or writing articles for a publication. Or in a forum, conduct it in a section where it's agreed for this type of thing to occur.

Directly with people, in say a group, it will be variable.

In an atheist group, you'll probably be alright. Although many of the accusations of being a "racist" "Islamophobe" spreading "hate" have come from purported atheists; the truly Woke ones will still pounce on you with worthless platitudes about the "religion of peace" as though they were Islamists themselves. Which is to say, even the principles of non-believers, who are happy to criticize other religions, can be inconsistent.

A discussion amongst your family over the lunch table at your brother's birthday will also depend on your family, including whether they're open to those discussions at all and whether it's a suitable venue.

==

Overall, you need to know your venue, know your audience, make clear your intentions and principles, and read the room. Push the barriers if it's okay to do so; start slowly and gradually warm up the pot. If necessary, even relate it to Xianity as a parallel. For example, that both Islam and Xianity endorse pedophilia.

But there really is no threat-free, persecution-immune way to do this. That's the problem.

If there was, we wouldn't really need to do it at all. The more we do it, the easier it becomes for someone else to do it.