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sillysurrealwriter · 10 days

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Vivi teaches some jerk, a lesson!

I could not sleep.

I couldn’t sleep for a long while. The heat was rather excessive to say the least, even though the AC was going on full power. It was currently 1 AM and the night was clear. Stars were shining and were rather bright, watching over the small town.

Like the guardians they always were.

It....was rather depressing, though.

See, this town had its best days long behind itself. It was located in the lower part of the country and ever since the main economy collapsed, it affected most of the major regions. Including this small town.

We used to actually have a working industry here.Well, more than one actually. We had a mine deep in the woods, which we used to mine rare goods, you see. And tons of factories, manufacturing all kinds of sweets. Chocolate, gummy bears, licorice, you name it.

But thanks to a strong inflation, the economy suffered under it. It was so hard to buy even a slice of bread. Now, it’s 9 times more expensive and our currency is quite worthless too. What a shame.....

I was one of the many workers, who were let go because we couldn’t get paid. I just dropped out of school too, because I had some trouble with the law here and there. Even though I didn’t get, why people were upset with me selling drugs to kids. It’s a vital business strategy. Pure capitalism, baby.

Because my father was a local judge, I was let off the hook and was forced to work at the factory there, as a way to atone for my non-existent sins. The work was actually fun there, not gonna lie. Manufacturing candy was quite fun and the work atmosphere was relaxing too. I actually felt at ease there, unlike here.

Mother was in the hospital, still in a coma. Doctor said she may not make it. Not that I really care, to be honest. Unlike my dad, my mother was a loser. Seriously. All she did was clean, clean, clean and just clean the house. I had to make money, because that bitch didn’t have a good education. And no, a history degree doesn’t count. Who needs that shit nowadays?

Not me, I’ll tell you that much. Thanks to her being not a good wife, my dad divorced her and fucked a much prettier girl. Big boobs, fat ass...Just thinking about her, gives me a big fat boner.

My father was much better though. He was strong and rich. Because mom wasted all her time at home, I spent most of the time with him. And learned what it’s like, to be a real man.

To be strong. To be successful. And to dominate every bitch, you see.

I still have yet to find a bitch to fuck though. I am 22 and I am still a virgin. Guess those virgins are more into those woke femboy bitches. Eww.

I turned to the side and tried to close my eyes again.

No....damn it, it was so frickin hot.....There’s no way, I’d fall asleep like that...

I got up and checked my social media stuff.

0 followers and an account strike. Just because I pointed out how that one guy was a fat fuck and got no bitches. Is it bad to speak the truth?

I checked YouTube. My favourite pundits did not upload anything yet. I wanted to see them bully naive young college men/women. And only those. Especially those fucking pronoun freaks, who are all extremely fat, have tons of coloured hair and are gay too.

Did Jesus Christ die for this? Really?

Well.....Guess I’ll turn on the TV. Maybe they’ll air that one show, with the sexy woman that looked a bit like a man and had some facial hair. Eh.

I moved myself off my bed and the ground shook, as I placed my feet on it. Grinning, I grabbed another big chocolate bar and pushed it down my throat.

Yum. 10% less sugar too.

I stomped and eventually went downstairs, because the house was just so ridiculously small. Urgh.The upper floor just had two bedrooms. Mine and mom’s. And I am sure she used hers in the past, to fuck with woman while dating dad.

She really deserved all those beatings.

In any case, I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. I changed through the channels, but most channels were shut down on maintenance. And my usual porn channels were having some strange issues, as static was shown there.

Weird.....

After finally scrolling through the program, I stopped bewildered.

Dreamy Eden.

The hell? I never saw that channel before.

And what I saw confused me even more.

A whimsical intro music played, showcasing a small town with all kinds of strange creatures. Furries of all shapes and sizes doing mundane activities like walking, talking, cooking....

Was that a kids show? At 1 AM? Geez, if they wanted to entertain kids they should do it throughout the day. Not at night.

I was about to switch to another channel, when I suddenly saw the title of this show appearing on the front. The animation was quite old and stiff in general, like the first season of the Simpsons.

Before that show got ruined later, for being dragged out too long. And for encouraging men to not be men and to kiss other men. Eww.

Just watching that, made my boner perk up in disgust. What else?

But the title.....

“Vivi’s Garden”

“What kind of shitty name is that?”, I asked, as I stared at the colourful title. It was awful, really. I could barely make out the letters of this show. They were too many colours, ranging from rainbow, to....

To......black?

Weird.....

The scenery changed and then I saw some girl on screen. And her appearance was....odd.

Her hair was all orange and long and wavy, reaching down her hips. She was wearing an oversized white coat, depicting smiley faces, flowers and other strange stuff. She was wearing yellow clown shoes and her hands were rather thick too.

But the creepiest part....

Were her eyes...

All of those furry characters had classical cartoon eyes. You know, white circles and black circles inside of them.

But...not with this character....The black circles were much, much larger. Not only that, but there were several white circles inside of them.

What was that thing supposed to represent?

The character waved.

“Howdy, lousy mousies!”, she exclaimed with a shrill and super excited voice, as if someone had taken too much heroine. “I am Vivi Vicky! And welcome to my garden! Isn’t it wonderful? I LOVE GARDENING!”

She jumped up and down at least 90 times a second (Don’t ask me how I counted) and the screen actually shook so much, which caused me some headaches. That...Vivi girl then suddenly ran towards her garden and indeed those flowers looked........colorful.

I’ll be blunt. I have no idea, what those things are. Those were little balls and shapes in all sorts of color. It reminded me more of candy you’d buy from the store and not....flowers.

Vivi did a backflip and giggled.

“ARENT MY FLOWERS BEAUTIFUL!?”, she asked happily. “But I couldn’t do this alone! No, no! My dear mommy made this garden to begin with! Mommies are the best!”

“Bs.”, I muttered annoyed. “Mothers are useless worker bees. Only properties and waste of space.”

“That’s not really nice mister!”

Surprised, I stared at the screen and Vivi was frowning at me, shaking her head.

“Mothers take care of you. Of all of us. Of the kids. They are wonderful.”

“Yeah, but they barely make money.”, I shot back annoyed. That little bitch-

Wait, why the hell was I arguing with my TV? This was stupid!

So I aimed my remote at the TV and switched the TV off....

...to the p*rn channel.

Much better. Staring at those girls making love was so hot. God...my fat pot belly was....

But suddenly, the channel changed back to the stupid kids channel. Vivi pouted annoyed.

“Mister, it’s not nice to leave. We were-”

“Shut up.”, I muttered and changed the channel again. I drooled, as I saw those lesbians have coitus...

And then, the channel switched again. Vivi glared at me even more.

“Hey! Why are you so mean?”

“Shut up, f*ggot.”, I mumbled and changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I said, I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

!!!!!!!!!!!

But no matter what I did, it wouldn’t work. The TV wouldn’t turn off. Vivi shook her head angrily.

“No Mister, we’ll talk. Whether you like it or.......”

All of a sudden, she stretched her arms out towards the camera. I laughed at her, finding her too stupid to be terrifying.

And then suddenly, a large pair of hands emerged out of the screen and grabbed me. I tried to free myself, but the grip of those massive hands was too strong. Vivi laughed from the inside.

“Don’t worry, it won’t take long mister bister sister!”, she exclaimed and her laugh distorted, as my ears bled and the hands began to drag me into the TV. I gritted my teeth.

Hell...No!

I bit the giant hand, only to feel all my teeth breaking upon impact. Terrified and bleeding all over the mouth, I was dragged deeper and deeper into the TV...

And then the next moment I awoke. With a smile, I got up and smiled outside. I really needed to see my mother and to make sure that she is all well and good. Maybe she woke up yet?

And I also needed to talk about dad, as to how he treated women. They deserved better. And maybe I should ask that man out that I’ve been crushing on for weeks.

I had so much to do!

So, with a huge smile and all colorful clothes I stepped out into the world, aiming to improve the world.

I may not have any teeth any more...

But who cares, if I can help people and protect women?

Right?

RIGHT?

R I G H T?

RIGHTEOORIJOR§NROHN§O§NF”I=!!”===!=!=§!==!=!=!==!§==§!=!!=!=

#surreal #surrealism #short story #horror #horror stories #weirdcore #dreamcore #brainwashing #tw blood #cw blood #kafkaesque

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msclaritea · 2 years

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Boris Johnson's government doesn't represent "modern Great Britain," as Johnson has claimed, but an archaic system that teaches those who belong to it that they are destined for the kind of greatness that others cannot reach.

It is a system that teaches the preservation & exercise of power, but it also one in which the shrewd & cunning, but not necessarily the best, rise to the top.

In its eagerness to produce a ruling elite, the system has also done lasting damage to the psyches of many of the children who have passed through it. And many view the boys' school of Eton College as perhaps the most representative example of this system.

Fear & humiliation were important elements of the Eton system.

At the end of each school year, everyone can see who was best in class & who was worst. The school is home to "horrible bullying".

21st century Britain has seen the perpetuation of a system that has almost nothing to do with educational equity & equal opportunity. The hollow mantra of 'social mobility' disguises the fact that boundaries between the very top & the very bottom are increasingly impermeable.

"A child today has less chance of breaking through the class and career barrier than their grandparents born in the 1950s. The subtle networks of the privately schooled help to create a system of self-perpetuating advantage & social immobility."

Inevitably, anger against "the elite" has intensified, contributing to the result of the Brexit referendum - a decision that caught David Cameron, the political classes, British business leaders, much of the media and even Brexit frontman Boris Johnson unprepared.

We need to understand the *real* Boris Johnson. He's not the bumbling clown act we're presented with, which has been cultivated to hide his grotesque incompetence, sociopathic lying, fragile ego & bullying arrogance.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-s-biographer-i-know-too-well-the-fire-and-fury-lurking-behind-that-smile-03gqmxt5v

Sonia Purnell: the truth about Boris.

"Elite boarding schools consistently turn out people who appear much more competent than they actually are".

The system produces "a recognizable product, which is very poor at emotions and has a built-in sense of entitlement."

Products of the system tend to be self-confident, eloquent & charismatic, but often lack the ability to deal with their own feelings & those of others.

British boarding school students have to leave their homes & families prematurely to struggle for survival in an environment of competition & harassment.

Often, their inner child is locked away & they quickly become "pseudo adults." That is why many of them seem so "boyish."

Essentially, Britain is being run by children in adult bodies for whom politics is little more than a fascinating game.

There is a certain predilection for #infantilism: Boris Johnson & his messy hair; Jacob Rees-Mogg, fond of taking pictures with his nanny;

David Cameron, who turned tail & disappeared after his brutal Brexit defeat in 2016; & Nigel Farage, another elite school product, who seems like a Simpsons character come-to-life.

We might call it "boarding school syndrome."

The British boarding school system does not provide its charges with a realistic image of the conditions in which the vast majority of the population live. The years in educational luxury are instead much more likely to further deepen the chasm between the elite & the rest.

Occasionally, there are counterexamples, such as Clement Atlee, but generally pupils leave school with inflated egos, unshakeable faith in their own abilities & a craving for success. But this system for the self-selection of our leaders is profoundly damaging for Britain.

Even some @Conservatives can see it clearly: Nadine Dorries described Cameron & Osborne as "two posh, arrogant boys... who don't know the price of milk... who show no remorse, no contrition & no passion to want to understand the lives of others - & that is their real crime."

Boris Johnson even presented a plan to lower taxes on the richest 10%. Even the center-right magazine the Economist wrote that "Britain is governed by a self-involved clique that rewards group membership above competition & self-confidence above expertise."

It was this wealthy & extremely well-networked clique that brought will Brexit to fruition. Because of the advantages they enjoy, they didn't fear a no-deal, & they know they won't have to pay the price for it - they know they will get away scot-free.

They always have.

• • •

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senlinyu · 3 years

Text

Thanks for the tag @simplifiedemotions

How many works do you have on AO3?

What’s your total AO3 word count?

994094. I feel like I've been edging a million words for like a year, and then writing nothing but minifics and one-shots.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Just two three. Harry Potter. Star Wars. Edit: And Avatar: The Last Airbender.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Manacled

2. All You Want

3. The Seduction

4. Love and Other Misfortunes.

5. Height

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I don't. When I started posting on ao3 I didn't realize it was a thing, and thought that if I replied that people would think I was doing it to inflate my comment count, and then by the time I realized that it was the polite thing to do, I was in really deep and had overcommitted myself with update schedules. And replying to comments gives me really bad anxiety for some reason, I feel really bad if my replies are repetitive, or like one person gets a longer response than someone else, and so then I start mentally spiralling and stressing about it, so I've just made it a rule that I don't need to reply to comments and prioritize chapter updates as a way of making it up to my readers. But I do read them all.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Probably Manacled, that's the one that has hurt the most people I'd say.

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't. I find worldbuilding in one universe gives me enough stress without adding on a second one.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. Quite a bit of during the last year in particular. I have resigned myself that it's the inevitable consequence of having stories recommended outside of their intended audience, they start finding their way to people who are going to hate them. And I've never prioritized widespread appeal or catered to a particular readership, so it's not surprising, but still it does get to be a bit much somedays when it feels like I can't go anywhere without running into it. But I'm coming to terms with it... and I just stay off social media and keep my social circles small on the days when I don't feel like I can.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I have been known to. I don't even know what kind I write. I've done all sorts at this point. I've found that I don't tend to like writing particularly explicit sex in longer fics because I feel like it tends to distract from the focus of the story, but I enjoy writing smutty one-shots and shorter fics where I can give my kinks a full workout.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes... a couple times now. But so far its been something that's been pretty easily resolved.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes. I've been meaning to make a spreadsheet for translations because I've been trying to get more organised about fandom stuff.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Dramione is what I always come back to in the end.

Whats a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Too many, tbh. I have so many projects that I've started and now they're languishing in my files and I just haven't found them compelling enough to finish or had the motivation to rework into something better.

What are your writing strengths?

I honestly don't know. I think my use of language is fairly vivid, visually/physically/emotionally. That's probably my main strength.

What are your writing weaknesses?

My sentences lean towards being too short and choppy all the time. I can't write first person that I don't despise. I get overwhelmed by large casts. And I can get too easily caught up in overanalyzing my plots and picking them apart and thereby never finishing them.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I enjoy it when there's a plot point to it.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

Ugh. Hard to say. I have a lot of fond feelings for Manacled since I am pretty proud of it and I kind of... grew up as a writer in the process of writing it. But that also makes it a kind of painful fic to reread because it's hard for me to see the story people love because I just see all the technical issues and things I could have done better.

A lot of my other fics are based at younger ages like Eighth Year (now I'm currently writing a 6th Year fic) where the framework and perspective of the characters is narrowed by their age, and so even though I like them and really enjoyed writing them, they have less of a sense of resonance for me personally. I have a really complicated fic that I've been developing for over a year now that has probably my most interesting Draco and a very complicated Hermione, and if I can swing it, it'll probably be my favourite because it kind of hits a lot of my sweet spots story-wise. But god knows when I'll get around to publishing it.

Tagging: @bourbonrain, @lovesbitca8, @monsterleadmehome, @im-a-monster-fucking-princess @akashathekitty @wordsmithmusings265 @katsitting @littlemulattokitten @jmilzwrites

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deniigi · 4 years

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my supervisor fucked me over with all my other coworkers present. can I request a one shot from you to cheer me up featuring Sammy?

Did I give y’all the fic about the hotpot?

Well if I didn’t, I’m giving it to you now.

Title: hotpot

Summary: Ganke checks the comments for the Blindspot comic daily and there’s this one asshole anon who keeps talking shit about BT.

The Blindspot comic went live in the fall and Ganke couldn’t stop checking the hit count every five seconds. All night there had only been ten hits.

He told himself not to be disappointed. The only person who really mattered had read and loved the comic.

Miles said that BT had even forced everyone on the team to read an abridged version of Journey to the West, and had gone as far as to make a quiz to determine everyone’s character.

Miles refused to disclose who he’d gotten.

BT had clearly rigged the game to make himself Sun Wukong and Ganke was proud of him.

That kind of enthusiasm was exactly what he’d been hoping for, anything else now was just icing on the cake.

Even though it would be cool if it wasn’t just BT reading his own comics.

That would be pretty cool, right? Like. If people online all started reading BT’s comic. That would be sort of amazing.

Kind of excellent.

Definitely worthy of an A+ and double pats on the back.

Right?

The hit counter didn’t think so. But hey, five more people had opened the page since last night. That was something, wasn’t it?

MM: dude why not just ask Sam to tweet out the link?

How dare you, Miles Morales.

How dare you waltz into this place with logical thought.

GL: I can’t do that. That’s like. Idk. Inflating the views.

MM: okay yeah explain to me how appealing to the person in control of the largest part of his own fandom is inflating the views

GL: I see your logic and I’m banishing it

MM: I’m messaging him

GL: DON’T

MM: too late

MM: he says ‘gimme link’

GL: asdksjsjdks

@blindspot: hi I know y’all can’t get enough of me to the point of asking shockingly invasive questions and for you I say good news! Some amazing folks have gone through the trouble of making a Blindspot comic. it’s good guys check it out [link]

It helped.

A lot.

It helped a lot.

People, on the whole, had great things to say. The panels were screenshotted and tagged and sent all over social media and even though Miles was pretending to be chill and aloof about the whole thing, Ganke could imagine him smiling big and bright and white at his phone non-stop.

Mom and Auntie saw a few of the bits on Twitter and tittered over them in the kitchen like pigeons.

The pride rose like a wave. Ganke kept waiting for the crash.

It came two days later in the form of a comment that read ‘Christ, look at all this fuss. BT is fine. I hate his brother.’

It felt like someone punching the wind out of Ganke’s lungs.

He took comfort in the handful of people who leapt in to shout down the commenter. They emphasized that if the anonymous commenter didn’t like the story or the characters, then they didn’t have to read it and they, especially, didn’t have to say anything about it.

Ganke appreciated those guys. He got the feeling that a lot of the people on there knew that the whole thing had been done but a couple of kids.

Not that Anon cared.

Anon replied to all these comments ‘No, I’m gonna keep reading, thanks. Anyways, the brother is lame. The smart part is cool, but why’s it always gotta be a guy?’

The part that haunted Ganke even after he’d shut his laptop and had gone to stick his head out the window for some big breaths of cleansing air was that Anon was kind of right.

GL: should we have made Guotin’s brother a sister?

MM: no

GL: why not?

MM: cause BT’s always wanted a brother

Oh.

Okay. Then it was fine?

MM: yeah man ignore them. it’s chill.

GL: k thanks my ego is huge and fragile

MM: trust me I know

Asshole. Fine, moving right along.

It didn’t stop. Anon commented on every page. Every. Single. Page.

Ganke didn’t know what to do or say. On the one hand, clearly this person was dedicated and deeply engaged with the comic, on the other hand, they needed a Rude Alert button. Ganke wondered if Ned could code one for them and them only.

The latest of their fury was directed at the big reveal in the second issue—BT’s face.

Having now met Sam, BT, Blindspot, Ganke’s whole image of him had changed.

He was not conventionally attractive as far as like, K-Pop idols and famous Chinese dudes went. His eyes were puffy and narrow and his face was round everywhere but the jaw. He leaned more towards ‘cute’ than ‘sexy,’ which Ganke sort of loved about him.

He was friendly. Stressed and grumpy and feisty as hell, yeah, but first and foremost friendly.

Miles claimed that he called it his ‘number one asset in employability.’ Which was wild because hello, Blindspot.

Obviously, BT couldn’t help his face. But Miles and Ganke could help Guotin’s.

Ganke had sent Miles about fifteen different images of Chinese celebrities and had told him to do his worst. They’d reviewed the final few drafts and had picked one that was most like a young Chen Kun. His face was more oval-shaped than BT’s. His chin and lips were slimmer but more defined. He was pretty, but not so pretty as to be called ‘feminine,’ which Ganke thought was a solid compromise between ‘handsome as sin’ and ‘looks like he’s got a quirky sense of humor.’

Anon hated him.

Anon thought that he looked like an idol, and they were not here for it.

They told ‘the artist’ to give him a mole or something, anything to make him look ‘less pristine. God, I can smell him from here and he smells like Dior and staph habitat.’

Ganke had to look up what a staph infection was. He regretted it. He asked Miles if they should censor Anon.

Miles said ‘mmmmm, idk it’s not like they aren’t saying anything that isn’t true.’

Ganke resented that. Clearly this was defamation of BT. This person hated him and was taking their feeling out on the comic.

MM: I mean yeah but it’s not like they’re talking about the comic, man. They’re talking about the style and like, thinking about it, a mole or smth to help you tell him apart from other folks would kind of be helpful. Like, especially if we ever put him in a crowd, you know?

HHHHHH.

Fine.

Anon could stay. But they were on thin ice.

It was hard not to be bitter about Anon’s comments, especially when they arrived daily, as though Anon knew exactly what they were doing and which page they’d left off at. They couldn’t possibly be reading the comic one page at a time, this was intentional.

Ganke’s jaw hurt from all the tooth grinding he’d endured as of late.

This latest one read ‘yo, has BT ever mentioned fighting with a sword? I don’t recall him mentioning. Someone should take that thing away from him before someone loses an eye—or maybe even two.’

That felt like a pointed jibe.

That turned the churning irritation in Ganke’s gut into something much, much colder.

Did Anon know about BT’s black and blue eyes? How could they know? Was it a coincidence? It seemed to be more than a coincidence.

The pile of critiques was growing bigger and bigger, and now that Ganke thought about it, they all seemed to take issue with things that didn’t match the real Blindspot’s personality.

It was as if they knew him.

GL: miles did you read the new comment from AnonTheAsshole?

MM: lol yeah

GL: tell me if I’m talking out my ass or whatever but like

GL: you don’t think they could be Muse, could they?

Silence.

MM: oh no

Yeah. Fuck.

MM: chances are low.

GL: they know so much tho??

MM: might be stalker? Maybe someone who’s over-invested in BT’s social media pages?

GL: maybe.

MM: hold on let me ask Spidey to screen it

GL: does he know Muse?

MM: no, but he’s paranoid and he’ll get Wade to be paranoid with him, and then they can decide whether its worth giving to DD for verification. He knows Muse.

Ganke’s head was spinning. His fingers shook with guilt and the thought of Muse’s pale body hunched over a secret, cracked cell phone in a high security prison who knew where.

In Ganke’s head, he smiled wider and wider, until the skin on his cheeks cracked. He dug out scraps of paper and redrew Blindspot—Sam—with gaping holes for eyes and a screaming mouth and he drew dismembered corpses in black lakes and he laughed.

He just kept laughing.

MM: hey ganke

MM: it’s going to be okay. It’s just a comic. I’m sure AnonTheAsshole is a stalker. They’re not threatening anyone.

MM: Sam can deal with a stalker. And we can too, okay?

There was a reason that Miles was a hero. Ganke wiped at his eyes and swallowed.

GL: okay. Thanks for doing that.

MM: 👍🏾

It took a few hours because Spidey and Deadpool had lives outside of being Spidey and Deadpool, but not so long that Ganke ran out of nails to chew.

Miles messaged him back and said that Spidey had read through everything and ‘escalated it.’ This meant that whatever he’d seen had caused him enough concern to take it to DP.

Miles said that he’d get back to Ganke with DP’s verdict as soon as he had it. In the meantime, he’d run the comments by the other Spideypeople and they thought that it most likely wasn’t malevolent but was maybe something to keep an eye on in the meantime. He tacked onto all, somewhat stiltedly, that he had a weird feeling all of the sudden. The pink Spidey’s tone had changed. She’d shut down and gone cagey, which allegedly wasn’t like her at all. Then she’d told the taller guy to DM her and they’d vanished from the chat. Miles wasn’t sure what was going on there or if maybe they knew something about stuff going on that he didn’t, but he wasn’t super comfortable with it.

GL: crossing my fingers its nothing?

MM: same man, same.

DP escalated it.

Ganke couldn’t stay still in his room. There was no comfortable place to sit or stand or lay. There was nothing to do that would make him stop thinking about everything.

MM: It’s gonna be fine, man, DD always knows what to do.

Miles kept saying that for every step of the way, and yet here they were. Double escalated. Ganke wasn’t so sure he even knew what was happening anymore.

That was scary. Miles was supposed to be part of the in-crowd.

MM: Wade doesn’t think it’s anything that can’t be nipped in the bud.

That was easy for a contract assassin to say, wasn’t it?

MM: he says that you and I are fine. Doesn’t see any links there. Waiting on DD for confirmation of tone.

Hurry up, Daredevil. Your apprentice’s life might be about to take a nosedive into a heap of trash.

Two hours. One text.

MM: >:/

Ganke couldn’t contain the bubble of laughter.

GL: good news?

MM: [image]

He opened it.

SC: HANNAH YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE. STOP BEING A BITCH ON MAIN

HC: You can’t tell me what to do

SC: I CAN

HC: Mom he’s being MEAN

SC: Mom she’s scaring children online

HC: I scare children everywhere I go why are these ones special???

SC: Because I said so

HC: that doesn’t fucking work Samuel you’re not her

SC: I am your older brother

SC: your ELDEST brother

HC: YOU AINT SHIT

SC: THEY DON’T COUNT

SC: HALFSIES COUNT

What.

MM: so.

MM: she’s not Muse.

MM: Red’s laughing his ass off at all of us for taking this to a level three

GL: wait I don’t understand

MM: Hannah is Sam’s little sister. She’s found a new hobby in our website.

Blindspot’s little sister was reading the comic??? Holy shit.

GL: she hates him?

MM: no I’ve been informed that they would literally commit murder for each other but this is how they express love.

No way. Siblings were wild.

GL: so we’re good?

MM: [image]

SC: apologize 🔪

HC: eat my ass

SC: apologize or else

HC: or else what? You gonna come in here and sit on me? Huh? Huh????

SC: I know your email password. All 3 you cycle through. What was his name? Uuuuuuuuuh Jing?

HC: you fucking bastard

SC: Hi Jing, it’s me, Hannah. I’ve been in mad crush with you since sophomore year. Please notice me senpai 😖

HC: Die

SC: kill me

HC: I will.

The giggles that came this time were a mix of relief and genuine intrigue. This lady read the comic every day. She took the time to scroll through pictures of her brother being an absolute lunatic and fighting with a huge monkey. Then she hopped into that comment box and took him—not Miles, not Ganke, specifically Blindspot--down a peg.

She must miss him a lot. Ganke wondered if this was her way of keeping him in her thoughts.

MM: I don’t think we’re getting a sorry, man. DD says Sam’s been at this all morning and has been tricked into apologizing himself twice

GL: so you’re saying that she’s an evil genius

MM: idk but she’s def Sam’s main nemesis. I always thought that older siblings got like, rights or something over younger ones, but idk anymore. Angel says this is normal.

GL: do you think she misses him?

Miles took a long time to respond.

MM: yeah

Yeah, Ganke thought so, too.

GL: should we change Guo tin’s brother’s name to ‘hamish?’

MM: ASDLDSDSFKdsjf

MM: one moment.

MM: sam says yes. Hannah says that she thinks our comic is shit and we need to draw everything uglier

GL: she’s kind of funny

MM: 👀perhaps she would like to be a consultant?

GL: 👀👀👀👀

MM: brb asking

MM: sam says no. Hannah says she’s got better things to do than proofread comics on the internet. She’s also not sorry. She wants that to be clear. DD says that the conversation has moved from English to Chinese and to maybe duck and cover for now. He says all is good tho. Thanks for checking in.

MM: Muse doesn’t use punctuation and talks in riddles, so if we get any of that, we’re supposed to send it to DP right away.

Oh, nice. That was a relief.

MM: oh

MM: sam wants to put us in a chat. Can I give him your number?

Uh, only if he wanted Ganke to hyperventilate.

GL: sure

[GL has been added to a Secure Chat]

It was a page of characters and emojis that were somehow more menacing than Ganke had ever seen them before. Miles popped a little waving hand into the fray, as though testing the waters, but the characters just carried on scrawling around it.

Ganke wasn’t quite sure what to do.

GL: hi? Are y’all okay?

There was finally a pause. Then a few shorter lines of characters. And then finally, Blindspot switched from Chinese to English.

SC: yes we’re FINE. We’re GREAT. Aren’t we, sibling from hell?

HC: who’re you? Why are you in our family chat? This is a family only zone, can’t you read?

SC: God Hannah he’s Korean don’t be a dick

HC: I can’t not be I learned it from you

SC: fair but pretend in the face of company

HC: okay fine. Hello losers.

MM: adksadfadsdfldfsldf

MM: hi

GL: hi?

SC: go on

HC: UGH

HC: fine

HC: I didn’t mean to shit talk your creation. Only my brother.

SC: also a sin, we’ll get to that later

HC: no one cares about you Samuel, stop spreading lies

SC: you first. We both know this is no lie, my white dad cares about me a whole lot

HC: well we can’t all have white dads now can we

SC: don’t be jealous

MM: lol you really call Matt your white dad??

HC: who is this person and how do they know our mutual parent’s name?

SC: this is not a mutual parent situation how many times have we been through this. He’s mine. Get your own.

MM: hi! 👋🏾I’m Bitsy! Spidey no. 4

GL: I’m his friend. He draws the comic. I write it.

HC: oh. nerd children x2

HC: anyways yeah Matt is our dad

SC: ffs

MM: he’s sort of dadly ig.

HC: ?? oho

SC: mind your face. Think about your face. Think about how much you like your face.

HC: little spider, did you not hear?

SC: kay everyone out. We’re done here

MM: hear what?

HC: lol Sammy you didn’t tell them about how Matthew Mcconaughey adopted you in all ways but paperwork?

Ganke held his phone away from his face as far as it would go.

MM: …wait are you for real?

SC: no. okay out.

HC: awwww Sammy so shy now. What are you embarrassed about? It’s cute.

SC: Hannah literally shut up I’m not playing

HC: damn okay sorry

MM: can I be honest?

SC: no

MM: I’m going to be anyways: I think we all sorta knew.

SC: …

HC: right?

SC: what does that even mean?

MM: idk, it just felt right, you know? You two are always fussing at each other and red lost his shit that time you got shot. He doesn’t treat you the way he treats the rest of us and we’re his teammates. He doesn’t even treat spidey like he treats you. So like, yeah. It fits.

MM: I’m really happy for you guys.

MM: is there a reason it’s a secret?

Ganke eased himself back down onto the mattress. This was real. This was like, actual, real information. Something that he and like, four other people in the world now knew.

He kind of wanted to forget it. It didn’t feel right to know.

SC: I dunno.

HC: if sam has an honest emotion towards anything he has to calculate its weight so he can make space for it in his collection of satellites.

MM: wh

SC: you’re so not funny.

HC: it’s called emotional repression, darling. It’s all the rage in this family.

MM: oh

MM: so that’s why you and Red get on so well

SC: HHHHHHH

HC: HA

SC: okay but listen his is different, I’ve only seen him cry at his wedding. I cry at least 4 times a week. Obviously under the bed, but that can’t be emotional repression. That’s expression. That’s clearly expression

HC: I can make the old man cry watch me

SC: please don’t I’ll die

MM: awwwww

SC: shut up it doesn’t even matter.

MM: AWWWWWW

SC: LEAVE ALREADY

MM: no I like it here. I want to hear you talk about how much you love your white dad

SC: I don’t. He loves me. I’m fine with this because it results in food, shelter, and continued employment.

HC: uh huh

SC: I’m using him

HC: yeah because you’re like the most manipulative person I know.

SC: thank you

HC: /sarcasm

SC: I know I ignored it.

MM: so wait why do you actually pretend like you hate him tho?

SC: wh

SC: what the fuck am I supposed to do? Just go on up for a cuddle? Have you met Matt? The second someone starts crying, he finds trash to take out to the bins. Hell no. Life is easier for everyone if I stab him with a stick and he kicks my ass in training. It’s fine.

HC: Sam is learning how to be a Manly Man. This is step one.

SC: I’m plenty manly

HC: you’re what mom imagined as manly

SC: which is perfect. That’s all I need.

HC: mama’s boy

SC: must suck to suck, no one’s kid.

Wow. Ganke had never been more glad that he didn’t have a sister.

GL: That’s kind of cool, though.

GL: that you and DD are close like that I mean.

GL: Its different from all the other mentor/mentee superheroes we see who like, sort of hate each other.

SC: wh

SC: OH. you mean Peter and Kate. Peter doesn’t actually hate Stark, fyi. And Kate calls Hawkeye the Old bi-weekly to make sure he’s still breathing. It’s actually pretty normal.

MM: he doesn’t mean like that Sam. I mean, like those guys don’t associate with their Olds now that they’re grown up and stuff, but you and DD stick together. It’s like you’re family.

MM: and that’s super cool. Idk if Spidey would ever consider me family. I don’t think he wants that for us.

SC: I?

SC: oh shit

HC: CLARITY ON THIS FINE DAY. What was your name again, tiny spider?

MM: miles

HC: PRAISE BE TO MILES

HC: AN EMOTION WAS HAD

SC: get fucked

HC: An epiphany was obtained!

SC: would you shut up

HC: Something has finally permeated that non-porous, two-inch thick skull of my esteemed eldest brother

SC: I’m your only brother

HC: you’re not

SC: they don’t fucking count

HC: now will you FINALLY invite our mutual dad to hotpot?

SC: Hannah he doesn’t want to come to hot pot we’ve talked about this. it’s too spicy for him.

HC: I’ll make it 1/3 less spicy

SC: that’s still too spicy

HC: I’ll make it 2/5 less spicy

SC: 3/5

HC: listen

HC: I have all this fucking equipment that SOMEONE left here callously

MM: what’s hotpot?

SC: 👀

HC: 👀

GL: 👀

SC: well fuck

HC: EYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

GL: have we never taken you with us for hotpot???

MM: no?? is this the sticks?

HC: can be. Where do you live?

SC: Hannah no

HC: Hannah yes. We’ll make one here. You’ll make one there.

SC: do you know how much shit I’ll have to buy? Where are we gonna put it?

HC: this wouldn’t be a problem if you’d taken your goddamn inheritance with you to SF

SC: HHHHHH

MM: you guys are actually being serious?

HC: I am. I am here all on my lonesome. Abandoned by my only kin. I require enrichment.

SC: try doing your fucking homework

HC: did anyone hear something?

MM: lololololol I like you

HC: 😊

SC: wh

SC: oh no. No no no.

SC: you two don’t get to be friends

HC: come here bb pspspspspspsps

MM: I’m here

HC: got ‘im. Let’s have hotpot. Sammy send me resippy. We’ll do it together over video so I don’t fuck it up.

SC: I’ve got to go. This has been traumatizing.

HC: byeeeeeeeeeeee

HC: is he gone? Hell yeah, he’s gone.

HC: hey thanks for making that comic thing. It’s hella rad. He loves it. Mom used to call him Monkey when he was little.

GL: omg aw

HC: ikr? P cute. He misses her a lot so I think it brought back good memories. Anyways, I’m actually going to make hotpot. Come over and have some with me, it’s more fun with more people.

MM: you’re not joking

HC: nope, it’s been ages since your whole team has gotten together, right? Ask them to do it. I’m a shit cook, but Sam’ll show us how not to screw it up. And he’s playin’, he’s totally down to hang out with us. We never had more than three people. It’ll be new. Exciting. Enriching even.

MM: are you secretly a nice person, Hannah?

HC: the fuck do you mean ‘secret’??? I’m a delight.

MM: Okay I’ll ask the team and my mom

MM: ganke?

HC: 👀

That—

Sounded kind of nice?

GL: I’ll ask my mom.

HC: nice. You can tell them that it’s a friends dinner or whatever. Idc. I promise I’m not going to kidnap and murder you. I’ve got like, class and work and shit. I don’t have time for that.

MM: 👍🏾

GL: 👍🏼

HC: great here I’ll message you my number. This is legit our sibs chat so Sam’ll freak if you’re still here when he gets back.

MM: thank you! And sorry for thinking you were muse!!

GL: yeah that too

HC: lol np ttyl

That…had really just happened, hadn’t it?

Ganke needed to sit down even though he was already sitting down.

GL: they’re so nice???

MM: ikr?

GL: are you actually going to ask your mom?

MM: Im gonna ask BT if its cool first. Then yeah. Why not? Our team really hasn’t gotten together in a minute. Everyone’s been super busy. It would be a nice change of pace, and if everyone brings smth then Hannah doesn’t have to pay for anything.

MM: ah, Sam says it’s okay. He says sorry his sister is weird and that he’ll make sure she doesn’t poison us.

GL: I kind of love her

MM: same

MM: okay will check in with the others. Talk to you later.

GL: yeah see you later

Damn, at this rate, Ganke’s family was going to triple in size, and all thanks to a comic.

Before he left for downstairs, he made a note to make Guo tin’s brother snarkier.

#fic #inimitable verse #blindspot #samuel chung #miles morales #ganke lee

190 notes · View notes

ingek73 · 4 years

Text

Feb. 27, 2020

A Royal Instagram Mystery

Image

Credit...Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Getty Images (royals), Shutterstock (stool)

Two royal couples, two Instagram accounts, one conspiracy theory.

By Caity Weaver

Of all the tricks humankind employs to concoct the illusion of security, the most vital to the British royal family is hierarchy.

Hierarchy is what makes an elder brother more important than a younger one, a newborn more powerful than his 33-year-old uncle. A minor tweak to the laws of succession requires the consent not only of British Parliament, but of 15 other nations.

While sovereignty operates under hierarchy, it survives by public support. What happens, then, when monarchical order is pitted against social popularity?

On Instagram: a mystery.

This is a tale of two social media accounts, both alike in dignity, yet cast as star-cross’d competitors on Instagram, where we lay our scene.

@KensingtonRoyal was established in January 2015. Crucial to our saga, it was a shared account for Prince William, his wife, Catherine (formerly known as Kate Middleton), and his younger brother, Harry. (William and Harry are the only children of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales; Charles is first in line for the British throne, making Prince William second in line.)

When the younger Prince Harry became engaged to the American actress Meghan Markle in 2017, @KensingtonRoyal began functioning as a shared account for the two couples. It remained as such through Harry and Meghan’s wedding in spring 2018 (when they were formally given the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex), and for several months beyond.

Until April 2, 2019.

That date marked the appearance of a newer, more sprightly Instagram account called @SussexRoyal. This was a new official handle for Prince Harry and Meghan alone.

It has served ever since as their base of social media operations, and as a channel for direct communication with the world. It was where, at the start of this year, Harry and Meghan posted their surprise announcement they intended to “step back” from the British royal family. It was where, in the wake of the hectic negotiations that followed, they posted a screenshotted statement from Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, to show that she expressed support for their decision.

In the latest development, the couple will be required to relinquish use of the word “royal” in their branding, commercial and charitable activities, and presumably, Instagram handle; that change in status is scheduled to take effect on April 1.

But let us back up a year, to when one royal brand was cleaved into two. That’s when things got weird.

From the outset, @SussexRoyal was runaway popular. It set a Guinness world record for reaching 1 million faster than any account in Instagram history — in 5 hours and 45 minutes. (Only Jennifer Aniston has improved on that time, when she created an Instagram account later in 2019.)

Tabloid writers and royal reporters began to forecast the moment that @SussexRoyal’s follower count would overtake @KensingtonRoyal’s, thus crowning Harry and Meghan the definitive winners of an unofficial couples’ popularity contest.

It seemed inevitable; already, when it came to Google search interest, Harry and Meghan towered over William and Kate. (From November 2017 until the end of January 2020, Harry-and-Meghan-related searches accounted for 83 percent of the world’s curiosity in the two couples.)

The Instagram eclipse would happen in April or perhaps May, with the birth of the couple’s first child, royal watchers speculated.

It happened in neither, it turned out. Nor in June. Nor July.

Every day, without exception, from April 2, 2019, until Jan. 21, 2020 — through Guinness world record growth, the birth of Harry and Meghan’s baby Archie, and the seismic rupture that was their public departure from royal life — the size of Harry and Meghan’s Instagram audience failed to exceed that of William and Kate’s.

Was it coincidence that Instagram popularity appeared to align so unwaveringly with monarchical hierarchy? Or was there invisible mischief afoot?

A conspiracy was at play, conspiracy-minded corners of the Internet murmured.

A cross section of social media analysts, researchers and product developers disagreed about the degree to which the British royal family’s two most prominent Instagram accounts invite suspicion.

Some felt the growth and engagement patterns between the accounts could be explained by the unknowable workings of Instagram, which regulates the spread of content with the invisible force of a deep ocean current. Others saw in the data a possible shadow campaign, perhaps intended to inflate the appearance of one couple’s popularity over the other.

Representatives for both royal houses denied strenuously any suggestion that their social media teams had manipulated follower numbers.

Here is what we know:

April 2019, the month @SussexRoyal announced itself on Instagram, marked eight years since the first royal wedding of this generation: that of the first brother Prince William, to Kate Middleton. In those eight years, a trio of births had knocked the second son, Prince Harry, down the ladder of succession to his current spot, sixth in line to the throne. But the public’s longstanding affection for Harry (as indicated in public polls) remained. It — combined with the sparkling addition of his new romantic partner — meant that, since their engagement, Harry and Meghan, whom the younger prince met in 2016, had been channeling public energy and enthusiasm like palms on a plasma ball.

To wit, the day before Meghan first appeared on @KensingtonRoyal in November 2017, the account gained 981 followers, bringing its audience to just under 2.27 million. The day Meghan’s engagement was announced (her debut appearance on the account), it gained 104,092.

It kept gaining, steadily and in occasional frenzied bursts. Over the three-day period that consisted of Meghan and Harry’s wedding weekend in May 2018, plus the Monday morning release of their nuptial portraits, @KensingtonRoyal acquired more than 1.5 million new followers. In the period after Meghan was effectively incorporated into @KensingtonRoyal, that account’s following more than tripled in size.

For the remainder of 2018, the two couples surfaced on their single account smiling radiantly — or, on the prescribed days, staring off in solemn remembrance — in an easy rhythm. The impression was of companions casually interspersed throughout one another’s lives, locked in a perpetual couple’s staycation behind the walls of their shared palace, with participants slipping out now and then to pursue their philanthropic passions.

In 2019, however, Harry and Meghan began a process of gradual separation.

They extricated themselves from their joint “royal household” arrangement with William and Kate, moving their administrative offices out of Kensington Palace, and hiring new staff. They formed a charitable foundation separate from the one William and Harry had founded in 2009, which had been the locus of both couples’ philanthropic efforts. And, most visibly, on April 2, they introduced a stand-alone Instagram account.

Though Meghan was by no means a global star before her marriage, she had maintained an active and successful personal Instagram account, its profile buoyed by her regular role on a moderately popular American cable legal drama. That account boasted around 2 million followers before its deletion following her engagement (not far from the approximately 2.27 million followers @KensingtonRoyal had when the engagement was announced).

From its very first post, Harry and Meghan’s new Sussex account was distinct from @KensingtonRoyal — and seemed unmistakably the work of an Instagram veteran. It established a signature color palette (royal blue) and typography (a hybrid of caps-locked roman and lowercase italics). These kinds of personalized elements were absent from @KensingtonRoyal.

Over the next several months, the two accounts would diverge even further in style and tone.

According to data provided by CrowdTangle, a social media analytics tool that, like Instagram, is owned by Facebook, nine of the 10 most-liked posts ever shared by either @KensingtonRoyal or @SussexRoyal showcase some combination of Harry and Meghan (and/or their son). The single outlier is an image of William and Kate’s two eldest children taken on Princess Charlotte’s first day of school in 2019. (It came in eighth.)

Data generated by the media monitoring software Cision, which tracks online media mentions, found that, from the date of the announcement of Harry and Meghan’s engagement in November 2017 to January 2020, Harry and Meghan received vastly more global online attention than did William and Kate. (Recall, too: They crushed them in Google searches.)

(William and/or Kate did receive more online attention than Harry and/or Meghan on a handful of dates, such as: the day Kate wore a green gown to the BAFTA awards ceremony, out of step with the event’s unofficial all-black dress code to express solidarity with victims of sexual misconduct; the period immediately before and after the birth of William and Kate’s third child; and their daughter’s first day of school.)

Thus it is perhaps not surprising that, from the date of the @SussexRoyal debut until Harry and Meghan’s bombshell announcement this past January, @SussexRoyal’s Meghan-and-Harry-centric posts received more total likes than @KensingtonRoyal posts centered on Kate and William. According to CrowdTangle data, the Sussexes came out around 13.5 million likes ahead.

Of course, on Instagram, likes are only one measure of engagement. Another is comments.

Harry and Meghan won that by an even bigger margin: In the same time frame, their account received more than double the number of comments that @KensingtonRoyal did, despite @KensingtonRoyal laying claim, perpetually, to hundreds of thousands more followers.

Likes and comments are a quick way to eyeball an account’s success. Divide that combined figure by an account’s number of followers, and you can calculate an interaction rate. A high interaction rate suggests a highly engaged following, which suggests high popularity — or at least a lot of interest.

@SussexRoyal’s interaction rate was nearly twice that of @KensingtonRoyal’s. Its audience was rapt, active and, within a month and a half of the account’s creation, numbered more than 8 million users — a figure it had taken @KensingtonRoyal more than four years to amass.

With good reason, perhaps. Unlike @KensingtonRoyal, @SussexRoyal established early that it operated largely independently of the British press. While @KensingtonRoyal released coveted family images in concert with members of the media, @SussexRoyal surprised its followers with images royal reporters could not get. From time to time, it even broke news.

Yet it seemed, from the outside, that no matter how many followers @SussexRoyal gained, it could never quite catch up; rather, it appeared eternally on the cusp of doing so.

On the date @SussexRoyal was created, @KensingtonRoyal had an audience of about 7.3 million. But the older account’s prolonged dominance cannot be attributed to its head start. Accounts created later often overtake popular “partners.”

For instance, Michelle Obama surpassed her husband’s Instagram account within months of him leaving office. Kaia Gerber, 18, overtook her supermodel mother, Cindy Crawford, within months of her own runway debut.

Furthermore, follower growth for one account does not necessarily portend a comparable increase for a similar one.

Few accounts are as closely related as those of Jonathan and Drew Scott, the identical twin brothers who jointly star in their own home real estate television franchise, “The Property Brothers.”

CrowdTangle data indicates that, after years of virtually complete growth overlap, one Property Brother’s account began blazing an upward trail at the end of last year. Its associated Property Brother (Jonathan) had recently revealed he was dating the actress Zooey Deschanel.

It is a quirk of digital popularity that social media accounts with large followings can reasonably expect to lose a very small percentage of followers immediately after sharing new content. The appearance of said new content, regardless of format or platform, will inevitably lead some portion of followers to conclude they don’t care about it. It will inspire decisive action — to unfollow.

It is therefore not unusual that, when @SussexRoyal posts a photo of Prince Harry, a typically well-performing subject — on horseback at about 2:40 p.m., London time, on a Friday — it will lead to a brief exodus of followers. In this case, of something like 420 accounts in the first hour, according to timestamped data.

A successful post will quickly make up this difference as new users discover it and elect to follow the account. In this case, the horse post resulted in a net gain of about 1,200 new followers in the first five hours, plus over 420,000 likes.

It is less explicable that when, for instance, @KensingtonRoyal shares a low-resolution image of a painted portrait of the late Queen Victoria — who is neither a common nor immediately recognizable subject for the account — at 6:47 a.m. the same day, it should immediately gain over 730 followers in the first hour.

It is even less explicable that it should experience a net gain of roughly 3,500 new followers in the first five hours, especially considering it garnered only around 283,000 likes total.

That means that although the somewhat obscure portrait of Queen Victoria was apparently enchanting enough to draw droves of new followers to @KensingtonRoyal, it received far fewer likes than a photo of Harry on @SussexRoyal — a photo that, paradoxically, despite receiving hundreds of thousands more likes than Queen Victoria, enticed far fewer people to follow the account.

Curious!

Before Harry and Meghan’s account existed, @KensingtonRoyal might gain something like 1,000 followers on an average good (but not astronomically good) day. But between Jan. 1 and March 31 of last year, its following shrank by nearly 10,000 accounts.

The creation of @SussexRoyal seemed to reinvigorate it — and then some.

On May 12, the day @SussexRoyal posted a photo of Meghan’s hands holding newborn Archie’s cute tiny baby feet, the account of Archie’s aunt and uncle, @KensingtonRoyal, gained more than 42,000 followers. This despite the fact @KensingtonRoyal had posted no content, as well as the fact that the Sussex post was in honor of a holiday few in Britain were observing: U.S. Mother’s Day.

For comparison, the day @KensingtonRoyal shared its hugely popular — for it — first day of school post, which featured Charlotte and George hugging adorably in impeccably clean uniforms, it gained slightly over 40,000 followers. (@SussexRoyal, which shared no post that day, gained about 10,400.)

May 21 marked the first time @KensingtonRoyal’s growth rate began regularly outpacing @SussexRoyal’s. The differences were slight — often hundredths of one percent — but they appeared to manifest irrespective of the content posted.

On back-to-back dates when neither account posted anything, Kate and William’s account growth rate might inexplicably increase from 0.06 to 0.11 percent. Or, on a date when @SussexRoyal content received roughly 10 times the number of likes and comments as @KensingtonRoyal content, Kensington’s growth rate might still outpace it by 0.01 percent. From May 21 on, CrowdTangle data showed the accounts’ followings growing in lock step — with @KensingtonRoyal permanently ahead.

Matt Navarra, a British social media consultant, was unconvinced that either account exhibited suspicious follower activity. “I don’t think there’s anything in it,” he said — but added, “I wouldn’t put my life on it.”

Samuel Woolley, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin whose research focuses on social media political propaganda, said that while manipulation was impossible to confirm without more account information than is publicly available, the CrowdTangle data is “pretty damning if we are looking for inauthentic activity.”

Others consulted were in agreement that several scenarios could explain the follower gap:

Scenario 1

Despite @KensingtonRoyal’s prior lackluster performance and oddly low engagement rate relative to @SussexRoyal, it maintained its follower advantage with no manipulation. More real people simply elected to follow William and Kate over Harry and Meghan.

Scenario 2

@KensingtonRoyal was given better placement on Instagram’s “Who To Follow” list, a curated selection of accounts presented to new users — a variable known to drive tremendous numbers to specific accounts with virtually no effort from account owners.

Scenario 3

@KensingtonRoyal was the beneficiary of a concentrated fan-driven campaign to keep its numbers high. (No evidence of such an effort could be found.)

Scenario 4

@SussexRoyal’s initial follower takeoff was supplemented by bot followers, and its growth slowed when no new bots were bought to replace them. (This would not seem to explain Kensington’s sudden and sustained increase in popularity relative to Sussex — unless, perhaps, Kensington began acquiring followers at the same time as Sussex, and for several months after.)

Scenario 5

@KensingtonRoyal was receiving follower boosts in the form of bots.

Several researchers observed that some inauthentic activity is bound to plague any prominent social media account: Following popular users is one tactic bots use to mimic humans.

While no one consulted knew of a reliable way to keep numbers artificially low by suppressing genuine follower activity, all agreed that it’s easy to make them appear artificially high with bots. As part of a recent NATO study, researchers acquired more than 3,500 comments, 25,000 likes and 5,000 followers, all for roughly $330.

It is also possible to use bots to inflate social media accounts even if you are not the owner. Anyone can buy bots on behalf of anyone else, or send them to an account with which they have no affiliation.

But inauthentic activity is somewhat unverifiable. One of the biggest challenges of unearthing fake followers, for the layman, is that many of the tools for doing so have disappeared.

Alex Taub, a founder and the former C.E.O. of the social media analytics company SocialRank, described the current social media landscape as “like a black box.”

It stems from the spring of 2018, when TechCrunch reported that Instagram had abruptly limited the amount of user data developers outside the company could access. (Mark Zuckerberg was about to testify before Congress regarding the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a political consulting firm collected and sold the personal data of nonconsenting Facebook users.)

The move impaired the ability of third parties to perform widespread data analysis. In so doing, it granted all Facebook and Instagram users more privacy — including those accounts operating as bots.

“Overnight, almost all audience tools were killed,” Mr. Taub said of the Cambridge Analytica fallout. “It’s very hard to see who follows who, on the granular level, unless you manually go into the account and click on followers.”

Mr. Taub sold his analytics company in December — a development he said allows him to “talk more freely” without worry of “Facebook or Instagram taking away” access to the interface that, in its original form, enabled independent developers to collect user profile data for audience analysis en masse. (A spokesperson for Facebook said: “We revoke access for third parties when they abuse our terms of service.”)

Mr. Taub said: “If it was 2016 and you said, ‘Hey, Alex, I want to analyze the Duchess in Essex and all this whatever,’ it would take probably a day or two, and I could come back to you and show ‘These are the followers they share in common. This is the percentage of fake followers this one has. This is the breakdown of locations. This is the amount of fake followers in a location.’”

Now, the only people with access to such information work inside Instagram.

Mr. Woolley, the professor at the University of Texas at Austin, echoed Mr. Taub’s sentiments. “It’s so frustrating to not have better access to the data” of public figures, he said. “Especially in an era when social media, particularly Twitter, is the favorite mode of communication for some politicians. It’s not just Trump. It’s people like Modi in India and Bolsonaro in Brazil.”

“What it comes down to is manipulation of public opinion,” Mr. Woolley said.

Yes, but back to Kate Middleton.

Jay Owens, a social media researcher in London who evaluated the CrowdTangle data, said she was “certain to a 95 percent confidence interval” that there was no mass follower purchase on behalf of @KensingtonRoyal since April 2019 — in part because a graph of its follower counts did not feature hallmarks of bot acquisition. (Those hallmarks include large, inexplicable surges of thousands of followers, and plateaus of growth that suddenly drop off.)

Mr. Woolley was less deterred by the lack of obvious indicators of bot activity.

“Most people leveraging fake followers these days — especially at the behest of well-resourced groups or individuals — are being very careful to avoid suspicion, detection and deletion,” he said.

The new goal is not sudden popularity, but mathematical untraceability: In a sophisticated campaign, fake followers are more likely to be added more frequently, in smaller quantities.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen accounts gain 50,000 followers overnight,” said Mr. Woolley. “That doesn’t really happen anymore unless it’s organic.”

To him, @SussexRoyal’s initial explosive growth seemed genuine. But the fact that @KensingtonRoyal’s follower count grew by large numbers on days of popular @SussexRoyal posts — the day @SussexRoyal shared the shot of their baby son’s feet, for instance — made him suspicious of the older account.

Then there was the matter of the fans. Anna Gebremedhin, a data analyst specializing in Instagram commerce, found that, when William, Kate, Meghan and Harry shared one Instagram handle, their respective Instagram fan accounts grew in ways that largely mirrored @KensingtonRoyal. But after @SussexRoyal was created, that pattern collapsed.

“Major fan Instagram accounts for William and Kate, which previously corresponded to the popularity of their official page, did not see growth aligned with their official account,” Ms. Gebremedhin said. Followings of Meghan and Harry fan accounts rose in proportion to @SussexRoyal’s following, but @KensingtonRoyal’s numbers grew faster than William and Kate’s fan pages.

Ms. Gebremedhin called this “a deviation from historical growth.”

On Jan. 21, 2020, there was a breakthrough:@SussexRoyal, at last, surpassed @KensingtonRoyal’s follower lead — two weeks after the Sussexes’ semi-departure from the royal family.

Direct comparison of the accounts is hindered by a final peculiar fact.

@SussexRoyal is classified as an Instagram “creator account” — a free designation that grants owners (and, to a more limited extent, other users) the ability to view some account metrics.

@KensingtonRoyal, on the other hand, is designated a “personal account” — a setting a celebrity digital media strategist who was granted anonymity by The Times to protect client accounts called “bizarre.” These accounts do not have access to advanced publishing capabilities and other account management tools.

“Why would the most prominent figures in the world, basically — or among the most popular and prominent — not have that? With dedicated social media teams, it doesn’t make sense,” the strategist said.

The mystery remains; the parties of suspicion, neither condemned nor excus’d.

Of course, any bots present could have come from anywhere. They could have been purchased by someone in another country, with no connection to the royal family.

We cannot even assume that bots added to one account were intended to make that account look good, or enforce a hierarchy of any kind. Perhaps, an account was receiving bot infusions, only so that its growth would fall off a cliff if (when?) they stopped being added.

“If you really want to be in a position of power and just mess with people’s social media presence, you spend a while intentionally inflating another’s presence, and being a kind of puppet master,” said David Berkowitz, a marketing consultant for technology companies. “Then, you just start taking this stuff away.”

Over the last two months, with media glare bright upon the Sussexes, @KensingtonRoyal continued its usual drip of tasteful, anodyne photos of William and Kate.

Yet on Feb. 17, it regained its follower lead, propelling itself past @SussexRoyal. As our tale draws to a close, the accounts are neck and neck.

Correction: Feb. 28, 2020

An earlier version of this article, using information from Instagram, referred imprecisely to the data that is available to “personal” Instagram accounts. Verified “personal” accounts created before January 2020 have access to data profiles; it is not the case that all personal accounts lack access to their data.

#royals #meghan markle #prince harry #prince william #kate middleton #kensingtonroyal #sussexroyal #duchess of sussex #duke of sussex #duchess of cambridge #duke of cambridge #duke and duchess of cambridge #duke and duchess of sussex #instagram #new york times

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mymelodyheart · 4 years

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Starting Over Chapter 2 ~Sassenach~

"Weel, weel if it isn't my favourite sportsman, James Fraser."

Christ! What now?

He groaned inwardly and turned to find a petite blonde walking towards him. Jamie had just escaped a group of old family acquaintances, evaded some uncomfortable questions about his disappearance, and the last thing he needed now was some more awkward conversation with a person he vaguely recognised. Prior to that, he'd briefly spoken to his parents, Brian and Ellen and his brothers, William and Robert. Like Jenny, they hadn't mentioned anything about his long absence. Instead, they'd welcomed him with open arms as if he'd never ignored their calls during the past few weeks. Grateful for the breathing space and respite, he knew eventually he would have to talk.

The blonde girl waited for him to say something as she sipped her white wine. With so many things occupying his thoughts, he could only summon an absentminded nod in her direction.

She flipped her long hair back with a flick of a hand and laughed coquettishly. "Ye don't remember me, do ye?"

"Eh ...ye look sorta familiar," he replied without matching her smile, his gaze briefly drifting somewhere else. "Ye're at my nephew's party, so I guess ye're a friend of Jenny."

Her cool floundered for a split second, but she quickly recovered. "Our parents are friends, and we went to the same school together. Laoghaire ...Laoghaire MacKenzie. Our families sometimes attend the same parties. I'm here with my nephew."

"Ah, right," he said flatly. "That explains why."

There was an uncomfortable silence, but he made no effort to ease the strain. He was thinking about the girl with the crazy, big hair. And the mindblowing kiss.

Undeterred, Laoghaire stayed put. She looked like she was waiting for him to make some sort of move. Shoving his hands into the pocket of his jeans, he dragged in an impatient breath. Here at Broch Mordha, the village was somewhat removed from the rest of the world. What happened outside its bubble only mattered when it indirectly affected its inhabitants. Looking at her expression, his image as a ladies' man had penetrated that bubble. It's true, he'd had a few casual affairs in the past, but nothing long term. He'd appreciated them for what it was, treated whoever he was with well and was always forthright about not wanting anything serious. His focus had always been on rugby and everything that entailed the sport.

Unfortunately, the media had made him out to be an unrepentant philanderer, thanks to the reputation of his uncle Dougal MacKenzie, a retired rugby union great and a former mentor when he'd first started out. Like Uncle, like nephew, so they'd whispered behind his back. Dougal had been a notorious womaniser back in his days, and his antics were often featured in the sports column. How many wives had he had? Jamie had lost count. So much for promoting a public persona that had nothing to do with his passion for rugby! Since when did hard work, glory and distinction in sports become synonymous with the shallow world of celebrities? In Jamie's case, ever since the camera had panned a close-up of his face during a televised game and the social media had erupted into a frenzy. Suddenly, Jamie's looks and his relation to his uncle had become as important as his rugby skills when it came to attracting the lucrative endorsements and sponsorship deals that made him wealthy. But at what cost? A reputation that refused to shift. Maybe there was a certain amount of truth to what was being said about him. After all, his uncle's womanising ways had soured the idea of him committing to a relationship.

"So, ye're back," the blonde girl continued, seemingly unfazed by his lack of interest. "Maybe we can meet up for coffee or maybe..." Face turning red, she squared her shoulders. "...ye'll probably need help refamiliarising yersel' with the village and surrounding area."

"Why? Has Broch Mordha changed much?" He knew he was behaving like a complete prick. Over a year ago, his charm would have turned on involuntary around people, especially with pretty girls like the one in front of him. Good old Jamie, the golden boy of British sports, always up for a picture or two or lay with some female celebrity or fan. Everyone had wanted a piece of him until he'd announced his retirement. Then his phone had stopped ringing. But his agent had wanted to milk whatever was left of his fame by suggesting to go on the popular British television dance contest for celebrities, Strictly Come Dancing . What the fuck did that have to do with rugby? Nowadays the only newsworthy thing about his name was his love life or some rehashed stories of his past. But here's a girl showing genuine interest so why couldn't he muster an ounce of enthusiasm? "Look, I'm so sorry. I haven't seen my family for a long while and ..."

"Ach, nae bother. Think nothing more about it," she interrupted with a wave of her hand. "But if ye change yer mind, call me." She rummaged through her handbag and extracted a card, handing it to him. "I've a boutique shop in the square. Sew in Style. I usually take a break between one and two in the afternoon."

Jamie forced a smile, shoving the card in his pocket without looking at it. "Aye, if I ever need a perfect wee black dress, I'll let ye know."

She laughed out loud as if he just uttered the joke of the decade instead of a sarcastic comment. "And, by the way, I'm home tonight so, if ye fancy a glass of wine or two after yer nephew's party...my private number is at the back of the card."

His forced laughter was toneless. "A wine."

"Jamie! A moment please." A voice behind him called out. Joe? Ach, thank fuck!

Jamie knew instantly his African-American friend was swooping in to save him from Laoghaire, and he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. They weren't close, but Joe was more than a professional acquaintance and team doctor. In and outside his training, it was their talks that had kept him grounded throughout his career. And it was he who had kept in touch with his family during his therapy. When the title Rookie of the Year had threatened to inflate his head, Joe had reminded him not to get too cocksure as rugby career tended to be very short. Quickly making an apologetic shrug at Laoghaire, Jamie turned to face Joe, this time a sincere smile, if not relieved, plastered on his face. "How are ye, mate? Good to see ye."

Realising she was being dismissed, Laoghaire's expression went flat; nevertheless, she smiled, and with a small nod, and a muttered, "see ye around," she turned and left. Part of him felt awful for being rude, but the other half felt good to not play the charming ladies' man as portrayed by the newspaper.

Joe let out a whistle. "Whoa! Who are you and what did you do to James Fraser?"

"He's still here somewhere." Jamie clapped him on the back as they made their way to the table where his brothers and brother-in-law were sat. The guests were already starting to leave, and his parents have retired to the house.

"Jenny said you might come. So I stopped by," Joe said, grabbing his drink from the table.

Ian, Jenny's husband, stood up and offered Jamie a beer, but he shook his head and zeroed in on the whisky instead. "I sent Joe to get ye. Ye looked like ye were suffering from a bout of gout talking to Laoghaire," he chuckled.

Jamie smiled pensively, pouring himself a healthy measure in the tumbler, and taking a seat between Rabbie and Willie. Despite his moodiness, he was glad to be around his brothers. Willie, the oldest of the Fraser siblings at age thirty-four, had his own construction company, W.Fraser while the youngest, Robert, better known as Rabbie, age twenty-three was studying Biochemistry at the University of Edinburgh. But Rabbie's passion was more into the woodwork, and in his spare time, he helped Willie create masterpieces out of wood or restored antiques. And so that left the Fraser Distillery to Jamie. Although unspoken, Jamie knew he was expected to take over the family business now that his rugby career was over. "Just a lot to take in at the moment. I didn't realise there would be plenty of guests."

The men nodded sympathetically as they supped their drinks.

"Here, ye wanted this," Rabbie said, breaking the silence and sliding a business card on the table "Got it from Jenny. Ye planning a party or something? Mind, it's a children's party company."

Sassenach! Jamie grabbed the colourful card, read it and flipped it twice between his fingers. Giggle Beans Children's Party Planner. "Geillis Duncan ...the name doesnae sound English to me," he said thoughtfully.

Joe took a swig of his beer and frowned. "Geillis Duncan? I know her. She's a good mate of mine. The party planning is a new business she just started."

"Aye? Brown-haired lass?"

"No. Geillis is ginger. Like you."

"Weel, I heard Jenny calling the entertainer Geillis. Maybe she dyed her hair?" Ian suggested. "I never saw her face. I thought it was bonkers she had that dog mask on the whole time in this heat. I guess she didnae want to disappoint the bairns."

"I can call her if you wish. Like what I said, she's a close friend," Joe offered, taking out his phone. "Is it for a party?"

"Ahh, no. I ..." Jamie didn't know what to say, so he took out his phone instead. "No. I'll call." Reading from the card, he tapped the number on his phone screen and glared at everyone in warning to shush. No answer. Just an answering machine. After a while, he placed his phone back on the table. "What kind of business that's just starting out takes a week off?"

"Ah! It's to do with the wedding," Joe explained. "Our friend is getting married this weekend. I'm the man of honour and Geillis is the bride's maid."

Everyone laughed, and Rabbie's eyebrow shot up. "Man of honour. Never heard of that before."

Jamie ignored his brother. "Mmm, doesn't she have the staff to answer phone calls? It would make perfect business sense if she wanted to succeed."

"Not yet, but she has a few close friends helping her out for now," Joe shrugged. "I have no idea which friends though. Want me to call Geillis' on her private number?"

Jamie shook his head. "No, it can wait."

"If it's not about children's party, what is it ye calling for?" Ian asked.

"Wait a minute," Willie interrupted as if something just dawned on him. "Has this something to do with wee Jamie telling me that ye snogged the dog? His words. Not mine."

"Fuck, he said that?" Jamie choked.

"Aye, my wee lad told me something along those lines," Ian piped in, suddenly perking up. "I thought he's making stories up."

"Ye snogged the children's entertainer? The one in Paw Patrol costume?" Rabbie asked. "How'd ye manage that?"

"Alright, Jamie. I'm all dog's ears. What happened?" Joe dead-panned.

Everyone at the table burst out laughing.

"Fuck off!" Jamie split a frustrated look between his friend, brothers and his brother-in-law over the rim of his whisky. His younger brother, Robert, looked like he had tons of follow-up questions which Jamie could really do without.

"He definitely snogged the dog," Rabbie confirmed with a smirk and a wink.

"Jesus, Jamie. Ye come out from yer cave for the first time in a long time, and ye snogged wee Jamie's party entertainer? Ye definitely need yer head looking at," Willie quipped, shifting on his seat. "What the hell happened?"

Although Jamie promised his mother to cut down on his alcohol consumption, suddenly, he wanted to straddle his hangover with a fresher one in an attempt to forget the kiss with the fiery English lass and to veer the conversation to something else. Feeling cornered and left with no choice, he complied and told them the whole story.

When Jamie was done, everyone shook their head like he'd just been crowned idiot of the year. "Ye actually bribed her with 30 quid?" Rabbie asked, slapping his forehead in disbelief. "Man, she must be a student like me, forever hard-up for dough. She must think ye're a self-entitled prick for that. Does she even know who ye are?"

"Aye, she does. She was actually nice. She's the first person since I retired from sports to mention the subject of rugby."

Actually, Jamie had liked her even before she had taken off the mask. She'd had this mixture of vulnerability and tenacity that had grabbed his attention the moment she'd started speaking. He could have talked to her all day and not been bored. And then she'd taken off the mask, and he'd known there, and then he was flummoxed.

He remembered her big amber eyes flecked with grey flashing in anger and thought of how her lips had felt moving with his. He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned.

"So, tell me, how did she grab the hundred-pound note? With her furry paws?"

Willie threw a beer bottle cap at the younger Fraser. "Leave it to Rabbie to ask the mechanics of every minute detail. Jamie had a snogging session with a dog, so let's just appreciate it for what it is."

Jamie took no notice of the jest. "It wasn't even a proper snog. It was more like take-that, ye-prick kinda snog."

"Oh, man. This is bad. Look at ye. Ye really have it bad, Jamie lad. Ye're paying for yer past mistakes. Aye, that's it! That's karma. That's what happens when ye leave a trail of broken hearts in yer wake. A taste of yer own medicine." Willie shook his head at his brother in mock sympathy.

"What do ye plan to do then if ye manage to get hold of her? Ask her out? Do ye even want to have a girlfriend? " Ian asked, seriously this time.

So what's the plan? If for no other reason, he wanted to track the English lass down just to correct her misconception of him. And if he was downright honest with himself, he craved to kiss her again—a lot. "I have nae idea. Truly, nae idea. But one thing for sure, she and I aren't done," he muttered before downing the rest of his whisky.

..........

I can't do this. I have to get out of here.

The four walls of the room felt like they're closing in on her. Claire tried to regulate her breathing as panic slashed mercilessly at her guts. The bodice of her dress dug into her ribs, and the choker pearl necklace felt like a noose binding her. She started to hyperventilate, and she reached up and ripped off the pearl-encrusted lace veil. Bending at the waist, she placed her hands on her knees and gulped in air.

In fifteen minutes, she was getting married to Frank. She tried to picture him in his tuxedo, his chocolate brown hair neatly brushed back, flashing his perfect smile at their waiting guests, most of them his associates and friends. Earlier while she was getting dressed, a box of white orchids from her fiance arrived with a handwritten note. It read: I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. Beautiful. So why did those mere words sent a shiver down her spine? Everything was perfect. Frank was perfect. So what was wrong?

She thought of the people in her life. There were not many of them. Sure, there were plenty of acquaintances and work colleagues at the hospital, and she was well-liked. But those she held dear and was closest to, she could count on the fingers of one hand. Orphaned at the age of five, she was raised by her only living relative, her father's brother, Quentin Lambert Beauchamp, also known as uncle Lamb. Having spent her childhood travelling the world with her guardian while working on archaeological sites, their nomadic lifestyle didn't allow much room for close friendships and ties. At least until she started her medical studies when her uncle finally settled down to teach history at the University of Edinburgh. Although a loner, she had bonded with Geillis Duncan and Joe Abernathy one night while watching a televised rugby game at the local pub. Scotland had just won. After hugging as strangers in celebration and debating about the man of the match over pints of Guinness, they became steadfast friends ever since.

And then Frank came along. He was a specialist surgeon at the time when they first met. He was her boss and her mentor when she started her internship. Their shared love for the intricacies of medical and surgical art of healing brought them closer together, first as friends and eventually as lovers. He was a patient teacher, and she was an eager student, lapping up his knowledge and experience. But that's where their common interest ended. Outside work, they had different interests and sets of friends. Claire loved sports, hanging out in a pub, reading books and night-ins watching movies. She was laidback whereas Frank loved attending formal charity events and socialising with the upper crust professionals of Edinburgh. More often than not, their differences made her feel she had to make a choice between him and her friends.

Claire closed her eyes and tried to calm her rioting nerves. Over the past year, almost every instant she attempted to meet up with Joe and Geillis, Frank gave her a difficult time. Her fiance pointed out how limited time they spent together with their hectic work schedules and her little get-togethers with her friends were causing a division in their relationship. Although Claire considered herself independent, gutsy and opinionated, her resolve turned into mush whenever Frank turned on his charm and wholehearted devotion in getting his point across. And so she'd started making excuses. She hated lying to her friends, but Frank soothed her guilt by being more attentive and generous with his gifts.

He doesn't like your friends. He wants to change you.

The voice in her head got louder, and her breathing became more erratic.

Run now before it's too late.

Lightheadedness threatened, and she staggered to her feet, swaying a little. She needed air so badly. Maybe the wedding pressure was finally getting to her. With her demanding job and long hours at work, she was bone-tired from fretting about every final detail of their wedding. Frank was a perfectionist, and he disliked disorganisation and lack of care. Every aspect of their nuptials needed to be perfect. And with almost four hundred guests, including the local press and his high-society associates, it was an event too important to muck up. It was her job to make sure everything was flawless.

What matters more, Beauchamp? Pleasing a bunch of hoity-toity or your friends? Is this really the world you want to live in?

She knew Frank didn't approve of her friends. "They're a bit rough around the edges, darling. I hope they will not embarrass me at the wedding," he had said casually. But Claire had stood her ground and defended them. Besides uncle Lamb, Joe and Geillis were like family to her. They were her people.

The sound of violin music and the drone of voices drifting into the room alerted her. She knew Geillis, Joe and uncle Lamb were waiting outside, and soon the door would open. They left earlier when she told them she needed a moment alone. Any time now, they would come and fetch her. Feeling sick, she lurched toward the stained glass window and jiggled the knob. It budged a few inches, allowing hot air to flow through. Breathe! Why was she having second thoughts? Together they would be a power couple saving lives, attending charity events and helping change the world. So, what was the matter?

Nothing is the matter. I love Frank. He's great, and he makes me a better person.

Ya-dah, ya-dah. What do you know of love, Beauchamp? You kissed the Fraser lad. Maybe the hot Scot is not for you, but if you really love Frank, the kiss wouldn't have happened.

The hot weather and lack of sleep muddled my brains.

Yeah, right. Get a grip, Beauchamp.

What now?

Get the hell out of there and run!

Sunlight caught the sparkle of her diamond engagement ring, making her wince. Quickly, she took it off and placed it on the table. No time for weighing the consequences, the rights and wrongs, the cost. No time to draw up statistical or pie charts and mull over percentages.

Trust your gut, Beauchamp. It has never failed you on the operating table.

But I can't leave him waiting at the altar.

Listen, you fool. Once you walk down that aisle, it's over. So straighten those panties and worry about the consequences later.

Her head was spinning in a frenetic circle, making her dizzy. Claire looked at the closed door and swallowed hard. What she was about to do would change the course of her life and maybe, the career she had worked hard for. But there was no time.

Go, go, go, Beauchamp!

Bugger it! Heart pounding, Claire yanked the window with all her might, and to her astonishment, it opened like a shot nearly knocking her backwards. She didn't have time to analyse if it was her physical strength or the adrenaline increasing the blood flow into her muscles that made the window budge. Ignoring the judging eyes of the Blessed Virgin Mary statue, she squeezed her body through the opening and wriggled her way to freedom.

..........

"Thank you, Jamie. Sorry again to call you on such short notice. I owe you big time, mate," Joe said, saluting him as he opened the passenger door.

"Nae worries, Joe. Happy to help. Now, go before you miss the wedding," Jamie replied.

Joe smiled one last time and got out.

Jamie waited and watched his friend run and disappeared through the door of the church before easing his car from the curb. The church bell rang, letting him know the ceremony was about to commence. There were a few reporters with cameramen lingering outside and thought, whoever Joe's friend was marrying must be well-known and newsworthy.

Joe had called Jamie earlier after his car broke down. Apparently, the bride's uncle had forgotten to bring something important, and Geillis had sent him to retrieve it, by hook or by crook. Luckily for Joe, he caught him as he was about to leave for Lallybroch for the weekend.

Jamie was just turning right at the junction when a cloud of white material hanging out of a window on the far side of the church caught his attention. What the fuck? Not stopping to think, he slammed his foot on the brake and got out of the car, leaving it stranded in the middle of the road. He started to jog across the grassy area and over the bed of flowers, keeping his eye on the wriggling figure coming out of the window. Christ, is that the bride?

Then his heart stopped and faltered. The person in the white dress was falling. His perception of time became distorted, slowing everything down until there was nothing, only the figure in white that was about to hit the ground. No! No! Please, God! Pushing himself, he bolted like a sprinter at the start gun, covering the uneven ground with a precise speed of a disciplined athlete, knowing full well his thighs had enough power to make it in seconds, each of his strides at least worth two of an untrained person. Barely breaking a sweat, he made it in the nick of time and caught the body in his arms.

His heart knocking uncontrollably against his ribs, he let out a massive sigh of relief and looked down at the bride. Her porcelain skin was flushed, and her fancy hairdo lay lopsided to the side with pins sticking out, making the dark curls spring wildly around her face. His gaze briefly landed on her parted lips before settling on a pair of snapping amber eyes. He fought past his lack of speech and wondered if the weeks he'd spent in a drunken stupor was causing him to hallucinate. "Sassenach!?!"

#melodyheart #startingover #Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser #outlanderfanfic

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recentanimenews · 4 years

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FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with Daniel Barnes

I love One Piece and I love talking to people who love One Piece. And with the series going on 23 years now, there is a whole lot to talk about. As the series is about to publish its 1000th chapter, a true feat in and of itself, we thought we should reflect upon the high-seas adventure and sit down with some notable names in the One Piece fan community and chat about the arcs they found to be especially important, or just ones they really, really liked.

Welcome to the next article in the series "My Favorite One Piece Arc!"

My next guest in this series is Daniel Barnes, writer for the Aggretsuko comic, and his original graphic novel The Black Mage. For my chat with him, he chose the Marineford arc, in which Luffy drops into a World Government headquarters in a desperate race against time to save his "brother" Ace from execution.

A note on spoilers: If you haven't seen the Marineford arc yet, this interview does contain major plot points. Watch the Marineford arc starting RIGHT HERE if you'd like to catch up or rewatch!

Dan Dockery: Let’s say that for some reason, I get to the end of Impel Down, just before Luffy & Co. drop into Marineford, and I’m like “I’m done. This is it. I can’t handle any more One Piece.” In one sentence, what do you tell me to keep me going?

Daniel Barnes: Why are you stopping before you reach the payoff of everything you’ve read so far?

I like that! How long have you been into One Piece?

When I first started consuming One Piece in earnest, ironically enough, I was in the Navy at the time. It was 2014, and up until that point, my only exposure had been the 4Kids dub on FoxBox.

Nice. I love a good FoxBox reference. Was it recommended to you? Because I know that, when a lot of people start One Piece, it’s like “FINE. I’ll watch One Piece. You’ve convinced me.”

I don’t consume anime as voraciously as I did back then. Back then, I was an anime vacuum, but I was also in this weird spot where I was semi-depressed. But someone told me, “You gotta try One Piece, it’s the best.” And my first reaction was “Umm, the art style’s kinda weird, though.” But they told me “You’ll get over it,” and the thing that made me finally take that leap was Gurren Lagann, which also had an unusual art style and then became one of my favorite things ever. So I figured I should at least give it a shot.

That’s something I’ve heard a few times. Because in other big series like Naruto and Bleach, the character designs are much more proportionate and straightforward. And I felt the same way...until I watched it, and realized the art style is PERFECT for what it is. So, Marineford is pretty much the halfway point of the series, with characters returning from all over the place. Were there any that you were excited to see come back?

There’s a few of them. I always love it when Mihawk shows up, but I think the big one is Whitebeard. Because up until this point, he’s just sitting around and you know he’s a big deal but you’re always wondering why he’s a big deal. And then you find out in Marineford. I enjoy seeing characters that are kind of defined as the “power ceiling” in an anime universe get to do stuff, and it was cool to see him make the entire world quake.

I think I called it in an article a “Be Quiet, The Parents Are Talking” character. You’ll go through Luffy getting new power-ups and increasingly strong villains and these seemingly insurmountable admirals with their elemental powers and then Whitebeard comes in, and he’s leaps and bounds above everyone. And like you said, for the most part, he’s just sitting down beforehand.

Yeah, he’s sitting down drinking a giant gourd of sake. His name is Whitebeard, but he doesn’t have a beard. Got a real Hulk Hogan vibe to him. Who is this guy? But then you finally see him after all this time, and that’s the magic of One Piece. You see all of these things over the years and you wonder what part they’ll play and then it finally hits you and their role and strength becomes clear.

Marineford, obviously, is all built around Ace. And what you get out of the arc probably depends on how much you enjoy Ace’s character. How did you feel about him? Did it make you emotional at all? I know he has the one scene with Garp where they talk about finding your purpose in life, and that really got to me, even though I’m not the biggest fan of Ace.

Okay, I think Ace looks cool and I think he has good powers, but I didn’t really care that much when he died. I didn’t really know him enough.

Were there any characters that you did get attached to or like a lot in Marineford? I know you said you liked Whitebeard and Mihawk, but who was your Marineford MVP? Who shines brightest among all those crazy diamonds?

Okay, so the cop-out answer is probably Luffy. He’s one of the weakest characters there and he manages to survive and he plays such a big role by rallying everyone despite being constantly outmatched. So, objectively, Luffy. But maybe I give it to Coby, because Coby stands his ground against Akainu. He gives you hope that maybe the Marines can change their ways one day and when he refuses to move in front of an Admiral, I thought that was a real stand-out, awesome moment.

So Ace dies, Whitebeard just wrecks Akainu and throws him into a pit, and then, out of nowhere, Blackbeard shows up. Whitebeard beats up Blackbeard and Blackbeard’s forces kill Whitebeard. What do you think about Blackbeard as a villain? Because he’s so unlikeable. He’s underhanded, he whines whenever he gets hurt, he’s super pompous. He has cool powers, but there’s nothing cool about who he is.

He’s super interesting, to me. He has a mystery around him with his two Devil Fruit powers, and he doesn’t really fit into any shonen villain stereotype. He’s an inverse of Luffy, but not in all of the super obvious ways. When you first see him in Jaya, you see him start with basically nothing, and you watch him work through the system and the powers that be, just like Luffy. They’re both trying to achieve the same thing and reach the same goal. But Blackbeard’s methods are different.

Yeah, Luffy will punch you in the face, while Blackbeard will stab you in the back.

And getting to see that evolution is great, because they easily could’ve just said, boom, here’s the next big bad guy and given him to you without context. But it’s like I said about One Piece earlier, where it shows you stuff over time and gets you to look forward to what will happen with it later. That’s Blackbeard’s whole appeal.

You talked earlier about Coby standing up to Akainu, ready to die for his beliefs. And then Shanks comes and stops the war. How did you feel about that? Because we’re all still waiting to see what his deal is (which as you said is a big part of the continuing appeal of One Piece,) but were you hyped to see him show up?

I thought it was cool, because One Piece has done a good job of establishing him as an awesome guy. He’s a lot like Zero from Mega Man X, where he shows up at the beginning, they imply how powerful he is, they make the main character want to be as strong as him, and then they take him away and only show him sparingly. So whenever Shanks drops by, he's been handled so well that you’re just on the edge of your seat wondering what he’s gonna do.

So, after the war is over, Jimbei has to remind Luffy that he still has things worth fighting for. And then, the timeskip. Were you aware that a timeskip was coming?

Oh yeah. It’s kind of hard to exist on social media and not get a bunch of these little hints about what’s gonna happen. But that was my goal with One Piece for a little while: I’m gonna get to the timeskip. I have to get there. It’s coming, I know it’s coming, I don’t know when it’s coming, but I just have to reach it.

There are so many big moments in this arc, but looking back at it, are there any moments that stand out as prime One Piece to you?

The obvious one, for me, is when Luffy goes Third Gear and punches the giant out of the way. That’s so cool and such quintessential One Piece. A giant on an arena made of ice and a rubbery kid inflates his fist to make it huge and knocks him around. It’s so weird and it works.

ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

Favorite One Piece character?

Usopp.

Favorite One Piece villain?

Crocodile.

Favorite One Piece arc?

Sabaody Archipelago.

Which Devil Fruit would you eat if you had the choice?

Bellamy’s Spring Spring fruit.

If you had to live on any island in the One Piece universe, which would you choose?

Does the Gran Tesoro from the Film: Gold movie count? That one’s pretty dope.

Favorite One Piece fight?

Luffy vs Blueno, when he first reveals the Second Gear.

One Piece moment that made you cry the hardest?

When the Franky Gang beats up Usopp and Nami finds him and Usopp is like “I’m useless. I can’t do anything.” Whenever Usopp gets beaten up, his nose gets all crooked and he loses teeth. There’s so many cartoon-ey visual indicators for Usopp in pain. It got me.

One Piece moment that made you cheer the loudest?

When Luffy punches the Celestial Dragon in the face. It’s so cathartic.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "My Favorite One Piece Arc" as we speak with One Piece Podcast Co-Host and storyboard artist Steve Yurko about his favorite One Piece arc: Baratie!!

Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: Daniel Dockery

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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somethingimnotembarassedbylater · 4 years

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identity

this one’s tricky. i don’t know how i feel about it. you can’t categorize a person in one box, but it makes things easier when you have labels doesn’t it? is what i’m doing right now permanent enough to be a title? is what i spent my time doing 3 years ago but still keep up with enough to be a title? what counts as enough?

i started listening to this podcast and honestly its been really interesting. it touched upon the topic of identities, as we know them today, as being a western concept. that statement itself is not hard to come to terms with because the moment you hear it, it clicks - yes. my social learning and unlearning has been done mainly through the internet, which in my case is very largely centered around western ideologies. it’s where i learned how high-schools worked in real life, where i learned sexual health, where i discovered ways of thinking i would have never been exposed to in my day to day life. i’m largely thankful for this, but at some point i realized as well, what i’m learning, i’m learning through the framework of a western mind. that is the standard and it does not budge.

when i think about who i am i can list a couple of things: pakistani, muslim, introvert, really into picturesque things, passionate, private, shy, idealistic, adventurous, vain, insecure, proud, kinda all of it and more. maybe this will change as i grow but maybe it won’t, i don’t know and i don’t think i can ever know. is it really necessary for me to put a title on things because aren’t i fine with the way things are wouldn’t i be doing it for the convenience of others? is it wrong for me to say fuck others when i occupy the same spaces as them? is it my duty to do more? to be more? to define myself?

this may sound a little pretentious to me when i read it again later but i think i just need to start talking to myself to really get to know who i am. who you are isn’t just what you like, it’s also how you react to things, what you’re afraid of, how you interact with the world around you. lemme really think about it, what do i like? i like to watch things, tv shows, movies, foreign films, k-dramas, anime, action movies, documentaries, i don’t think there’s any form of visual media i don’t enjoy consuming and i know i have a problem with being fixated on something very intensely for a little while and then completely forgetting about it. I also love drawing. its something i spend a lot more time on recently but its good to see something real come out of my hands. i think i am a little too into the picturesque things in life. this is a term i learned recently from a book i’ve only read a chapter of and already feel like dropping, and basically the character was also into the picturesque. he was into the visual aesthetic, the beautiful things in life that he over-romanticizes. i feel like i do that too sometimes, or i guess most times because i find myself thinking and viewing my life as a movie, and thinking of the beautiful shots i’d include in the b-roll, or the tender moments as being part of a pivotal scene. maybe that’s detrimental to the actual experience of living but hey, there’s no rules on how to live my life, if this is how younger me decides is a good way to exist then who am i to say no to her? i think i live a very boring and mundane life, like the character in the book does. maybe i should stop comparing myself to him considering he literally commits a murder later on.

i think there are things i could be doing, things i fantasize about me possibly experiencing, things i’ve hear about, things i’ve seen on tv that i could also live, but i don’t think i’ll have the balls to do. maybe it’s a good thing because almost all of them seem like things i’ve been taught against, but it’s lowkey robbing me of my agency in life and what the hell. am i stopping myself from being happy? why would i do that? why would anyone do that? is it because im too shy? to scared? of what though? the repercussions? who would really school me? my parents already have 2 children who live their lives the way they choose to, so why am i different? do i think i somehow don’t deserve that? do i think that i’m better than them? sometimes i just want sarah to shut the fuck up and go live a little, to be out there a little more, to be the person she wants to be, but i always back off, why the hell do i do that? why do i kid myself and say that i’m being a good person by not doing anything, because am i really? i’m just a 19 year old who doesn’t think she has even started living. i see myself as the one in the bleachers, kind dissatisfied with the fact that the racer on the track isn’t there yet, but i’m her, i’m the one that’s meant to be on the starting line, but i don’t see myself even going down the stairs towards the track anytime soon. honestly this sounds sad as fuck, im not even a participant in my own life but when talking to others why do i inflate myself to the point where i make myself believe i’ve actually accomplished something in my life, cause clearly i have not.

this is making me motivated again, nothing like a good old self deprecation to make yourself feel alive again. i want to do things, i do have plans, i want to see things, and i am going to do it. i need more friends though like i know i can do this shit alone but it just feels shitty and i haven’t gotten comfortable enough with myself to do anything more. as much as i can say that i don’t need anyone, it does help when someone’s there enabling your behavior, or maybe i can even call is “supporting” :O maybe hehe. ok then make better friends, go talk to that pretty girl in class, go say hi and talk about the prof, go be the one to compliment someone, go be approachable, its not impossible, so go do it. also get better style.

this definitely spiraled into something it didn’t start out from and i can talk a billion more things about it but i think this is just how i think, so how i think is going to be how i write.

its a warm tuesday june morning, i drank some chai and ate some noodles, i was on my phone for way too long, and i’ve been up all night.

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pharaohfontain · 5 years

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Do you feel anxious for no reason? Are you endlessly worrying unnecessarily about your health, finance or life? Are you having panic attacks? Are you constantly on edge and anxious to the extent you can’t even concentrate sometimes? Do you find it difficult sleeping every night? Do you dream so much that you wake up exhausted? Are you constantly judging and micro monitoring yourself? Do you feel lightheaded when you stand up? Are you so tormented by the feeling of anxiety that you think you may be losing your ever loving mind? If you have answered yes to any 3 questions above, chances are you are suffering from one of the many forms of a condition called ANXIETY.

I have chosen to write about anxiety and depression as both are something that has affected me in life, the effects of these two mostly mental conditions prompted me to look around my society and wonder, was I the only one to be affected by this? Am I a special case? my studies have allowed me to understand that depression and anxiety are so prevalent in and around Accra that, I dare propose that 7 in 10 men in Accra suffer from these conditions and it is worsened because most people won’t dare talk about it.

They wont want to talk about it for fear of people’s reaction to their condition or simply for fear that they may be losing their minds so they keep it to themselves. In Accra Ghana there is a stigma on mental conditions or disorder of any kind, so most men in Accra (Both Ghanaian and foreigners in the country) find themselves dependent on alcohol or other forms of self medication just to have a good night sleep or even maintain normal routine.

Why have I chosen Accra as an area for this case study, I live and work in Accra, so naturally this will be a good and easy place in which to carry out research. I dont want to talk about Kumasi or Takoradi because I do not live there, I have spent a lot of time in and around Accra, I have spoke to so many people about this topic, so everything I say here is in most cases word for word the experiences and feelings of too many men within Accra.

For most people the feelings of anxiety especially gets so intense that they even end up going to hospitals, only for the doctor to inform them there is nothing wrong with them.

In many cases these Doctors misdiagnose the patient not because they ran tests on the individual but because the person complains of sensations, without test or ignoring their test which shows clearly that nothing is wrong with the patient, they will place the patient on drugs. Many times they will place these patients on high blood pressure drugs which creates new problems for the patient or worsens the case.

WHAT IS ANXIETY?

According to WEBMD.com the most common form of anxiety is the Generalized anxiety disorder (or GAD) which is characterized by excessive, exaggerated anxiety and worry about everyday life events with no obvious reasons for worry. People with symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder tend to always expect disaster and can’t stop worrying about health, money, family, work, or school. In people with GAD, the worry is often unrealistic or out of proportion for the situation. Daily life becomes a constant state of worry, fear, and dread.

These generalize anxiety then produces symptoms for the individual that is called panic attacks, these panic attacks can be expressed in a verity of ways; The person can find themselves with racing heartbeats for no apparent reason, they can find themselves sweating in a heightened sense of anxiousness for no apparent reason, they may develop a fear of crowded places, They may develop a hyper dream situation were they dream so much night that it leaves them fatigued in the morning, they may also develop insomnia(sleeping disorder), many advanced anxiety sufferers tend to feel fatigued throughout the day, have a feeling that they may pass out at random times or they may develop a belief that they are losing their minds from the enter affair. Basically the feeling of panic attacks brought on my general anxiety disorder is one where the suffer feels a continued sense of anxiousness and this is a most uncomfortable state of mind to live in, it is paramount to a hellish existence.

In most cases anxiety sufferers find themselves falling naturally into depression.

WHAT IS DEPRESSION?

Depression is a common illness worldwide, with more than 264 million people affected(1). Depression is different from usual mood fluctuations and short-lived emotional responses to challenges in everyday life. Especially when long-lasting and with moderate or severe intensity, depression may become a serious health condition. It can cause the affected person to suffer greatly and function poorly at work, at school and in the family. At its worst, depression can lead to suicide.

The most damaging part of this anxiety problem in Accra is that most men are not even aware that they are suffering from it, so many of them tend to use alcohol as a way to remedy the sensations in the short-term.

According to Healthline Media on http://www.healthline.com, Alcohol is a sedative and a depressant that affects the central nervous system. The first few years or months of using alcohol to manage your anxiety, you will find that drinking alcohol can reduce fears and take your mind off of your troubles. But once drinking is continuous like it usually is, you can build a tolerance to the de-stressing effects of alcohol, and this can make anxiety and stress even more difficult to cope with.

I believe that this is the real reason for the high patronage of bars, hence its high availability all over Accra. You just have to look around you and you will be awestruck once you fully grasp how frequent you will come across a bar all over Accra. Even more surprising is that no matter how small, rundown, big or expensive a drinking spot appears to be, from Sunday to Sunday there will always be men and women drinking from Sunday to Sunday.

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This is not to say that a culture of drinking alcohol is innately bad but after talking to a few people, it has come to my knowledge that most men in Accra today are drinking as a way to cope with the anxiety of living and working in the system, as most men in Accra go to bed and wake up unsure of where the next meal will come from.

Office workers in Accra account for about 30% of the workforce in Accra, the rest are small to medium scale business owners and business men engaged in many different businesses to make honest living. 90% of men in Accra including the office worker go through unbelievable stress that in most cases will cause anxiety and depression, as the system is one that we find constant inflation but the salaries and earnings seem to remain the same or in some cases even reduce.

Most men in Accra even those with wife and children go to bed and wake up with no idea where their next meal will come from, no retirement funds, no social structure that guarantees the children’s education, everything is depended on what the man of the house can bring home. It is sadly expected that this level of stress naturally will be attracted to men in a system like this.

Now we must understand that Ghana in particular is a system that does not really care about the well being of the individual human being, I mean this in the sense that we have no provision for human stress relief, no parks, no programs created with the sole intent of reducing stress or mental trauma in the system, this is the same issue in Ghana’s immediate Brother nation; Nigeria. All we have are the drinking bars and clubbing joints, it is only natural that most men within Accra will turn to alcohol as the major form of stress relief.

Most sickness that men suffer from within Accra can be attributed to an extra-ordinary consumption of alcohol and high stress, these two issues I feel are expressing a prior condition in men that the medical system in Accra have largely ignored. Anxiety can lead to excessive drinking, Anxiety is also a signal that your stress factor is out of control, I feel that if the medical system can start to treat anxiety as a serious issue and look for proper remedies for it, many men and women will be saved from more critical conditions that can come from drinking, high blood pressure brought on through stress of anxiety and also depression which can lead to suicide. I hope this article can open the eyes of all the readers so we can begin talking about this issue, and subsequently pressure our government into doing the needful to help the overwhelming amount of people in society suffering from anxiety.

14 TIPS TO HELP YOU CONTROL YOUR ANXIETY

Take a time-out. Practice yoga, listen to music, meditate, get a massage, or learn relaxation techniques. Stepping back from the problem of life helps clear your head.

Eat well-balanced meals. Do not skip any meals. Do keep healthful, energy-boosting snacks on hand.

Limit alcohol and caffeine, which can aggravate anxiety and trigger panic attacks.

Get enough sleep. When stressed, your body needs additional sleep and rest.

Exercise daily to help you feel good and maintain your health. Check out the fitness tips below.

Take deep breaths. Inhale and exhale slowly.

Count to 10 slowly. Repeat, and count to 20 if necessary.

Do your best. Instead of aiming for perfection, which isn’t possible, be proud of however close you get.

Accept that you cannot control everything. Put your stress in perspective: Is it really as bad as you think?

Welcome humor. A good laugh goes a long way.

Maintain a positive attitude. Make an effort to replace negative thoughts with positive ones.

Get involved. Volunteer or find another way to be active in your community, which creates a support network and gives you a break from everyday stress.

Learn what triggers your anxiety. Is it work, family, school, or something else you can identify? Write in a journal when you’re feeling stressed or anxious, and look for a pattern.

Talk to someone. Tell friends and family you’re feeling overwhelmed, and let them know how they can help you. Talk to a physician or therapist for professional help.

Are you suffering from anxiety? How do you handle the condition? Please share with us below.

Sources:

ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

HEALTHLINE MEDIA INC

WEBMD

ANXIETY the BIGGEST PROBLEM that MOST MEN in ACCRA GHANA don’t know they have! Do you feel anxious for no reason? Are you endlessly worrying unnecessarily about your health, finance or life?

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bi-dazai · 5 years

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@ leftists saying that “no one died at tiananmen” - you have no idea what the fuck youre talking about and you need to shut up

the fact that you believe that it is “capitalist” or “trotskyist” propaganda that protesters were killed under deng xiaoping’s china (you probably dont even know who that is) is just disgusting. if you took five seconds to look past social media and read some actual research by credited historians and human rights activists you’ll find that, yes, actually, china does have and has had some pretty damn dark atrocities on their hands in the past few decades.

im going to cover the very basics, going from an in-depth study i did into the massacre two years ago that took up half of my final year of high school. for reference i received a very high grade on this project, however i will be looking back at my sources and not at my essay itself in order to keep bias out. however it’s also important to know that you can access every one of the sources im going to use without even a university tertiary papers allowance, since i went to a public school which had no subscription of any kind to a paper database, and any papers and academic journals i would have to raid the internet for or pay for out of pocket.

this post, despite being the basics of the situation, is also fairly long. you know why? this is a complicated fucking situation with a lot of elements at play here to understand. funny that, that you cant actually understand this kind of event by looking at a bunch of youtube videos talking about it from a political perspective without actually understanding what the fuck happened. huh.

on sourcing

this post isnt an essay. im not going to use an academic standard of reference or neutrality here. what i will do is occasionally link to some good articles throughout the essay and list all sources at the end of the post. understand that all facts and statements made in this post are from verifiable and creditable academic sources which i have evaluated, including evaluating the author of second-hand sources from a leftist perspective.

1) student protest in china

student protest is a pretty staple aspect of chinese culture and has been for a while. im not chinese myself, and im not a scholar of chinese history, but student protest has been described in many texts to have precipitated much of 20th century china’s development, one example being the student-led may fourth movement of 1919 which led to the creation of the Chinese Communist Party.

the tiananmen square protests were a series of protests which constituted, in significant amounts, university students. the history of modern, communist china is known to rest on university students, and student activisim was embraced and encouraged by mao (read the below point). for the chinese government to turn so brutally on that protest is extremely telling of a shift in doctrine and attitude, and makes the tiananmen square one of the most important moments in demonstrating the modern state of china’s relationship with criticism and protest, as well as its roots.

2) mao vs deng xiaoping

i understand that a lot of leftist ‘hesitation’ to believe that the chinese government massacred children in the late 1980s comes from the leftist appreciation for mao zedong. in the 1960s china began to shift back into a class system, and in response mao created the ‘Red Guard’, which was basically him encouraging students to follow his ideals and criticise the rise of old bourgeois and bureaucratic habits. mao didn’t want a class system reoccurring and he understood that communist china had been raised on the shoulders and hard work of chinese university academics and students.

i just want to point out that the tiananmen square massacre happened in 1989. mao zedong died in 1976. mao zedong had been dead for over a decade when it happened.

the man in charge of china when mao zedong died was deng xiaoping, who was known for being extremely critical of mao’s followers and had a militaristic attitude and foundation - in fact, he was known for having a fair few military ties. deng xiaping fully succeeded mao by 1978, and became known for enabling further chinese economic freedom (which led to the class system returning at a much greater rate; however also proposed greater freedom to criticise the government in theory - in theory. yeah that didnt happen). deng xiaoping also put into effect the infamous one child policy (which pushed families with more than one child into further poverty and encouraged parents to abandon female babies). deng xiaoping also executed thousands of criminals in an attempt to curb crime rates.

i could go all day into deng xiaoping’s reign over china. there were other dark effects of his rule - lower wages for academics; a widening gap between rich and poor; extreme corruption; and inflation that soared on food prices in the mid-1980s which led to many poor chinese citizens starving. this man was, to put it simply, evil. to associate him with mao at all is ridiculous. even time magazine noticed how different china had become - the september 26 1983 cover headline was literally “banishing mao’s ghost: deng xiaoping”.

he was not mao zedong. if your taking sides with the chinese government and trying to see this from a “capitalist propaganda” perspective is because youre a maoist, then youre clearly misunderstanding who was in charge here. even before mao died he was losing power while deng xiaoping was gaining it through his military ties. the 1970s and 80s was a period of rapid transformation into hell in china. the china of the 50s and 60s is extremely different from that of the late 80s.

3) the democracy movement

the protest in early june 1989 was part of a greater student movement that had been carrying on and picking up fervour throughout the mid-to-late 1980s in china. majorly comprised of university students and academics, it sought to oppose the blaring issues and evils of deng xiaoping’s rule. protestors had been filling tiananmen square even in early 1987, their reach spanned many cities and protests often reached one million people.

the democracy movement, as it was called [there was also the peoples liberation army but the democracy movement is the overarching movement], criticised the lack of communication between protestors and the communist party, unemployment, wage gaps, and demanded democracy. the movement was tolerated, however, with little to no violent opposition. this peaceful attitude cannot be accredited to deng xiaoping - many historians have credited this to the influence of general secretary hu yaobang who was dismissed in 1986 for being too permissive.

throughout the late 1980s and especially in 1989, the protests began to heat up and non-academic chinese citizens began to also participate. in mid-april 1989 hu yaobang died, and the catalyst for a massive intensification of the protests began. tiananmen square is considered the centre of political power in beijing - a short time after hu yaobang’s death around 600 students and teachers laid a wreath for him in the square. many others in the following days also laid wreaths for him, and the demands of the democracy movement were again enunciated.

4) the massacre lead-up

over the next few months thousands of students occupied tiananmen square, frequently holding hunger strikes while attempting still to communicate with the deng xiaoping-led communist party. millions across the country were in solidarity.

on may 20th 1989, martial law was declared against the protests, and troops began to be stationed across beijing. millions of protestors still turned up, and it was reported many troops at this period refused to shoot the protestors despite their orders.

a statue of the goddess of democracy was also raised in tiananmen square by protestors, and, ahead of a visit from mikhael gorbachev, a hunger strike also took place. these protests continued every day and gained immense amounts of support from the chinese public.

[photo credit shelly zang]

5) the massacre

by early june the protests were still going strong and still gaining traction fast. on the night of june 3rd, the troops stationed in beijing began to mobilise, and this time the soldiers obeyed martial law. the troops were heavily armed and deng xiaoping did not hesitate to order the army to deploy military vehicles such as tanks to clear out the protesters using the violence he had used when he had executed criminals.

if youre unwilling to believe, for some reason, blood was shed, then here: a news site by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia’s public news service (which is fairly left-leaning, especially in its journalists), which summarises the massacre and includes many, many pictures of the violence, suffering, and bloodshed. MASSIVE TW FOR VIOLENCE, DEATH, BLOOD, GORE

with the sheer volume of fleeing protesters and the entire force of the chinese army being pushed down on the beijing populace, many soldiers did not know or had no involvement in the killing - many, upon learning of it, immediately flew the white flag and fled.

6) the death count

to this day, the count of the amount of civilians and protestors who died in the massacre is unknown. it will probably never be known.

in 1989 and 1990 amnesty international human rights investigators collected testimonies from witnesses and attempted to calculate the death toll. testimonies concluded that it was highly likely that, in the early morning hours of june 5th, the army collected the bodies lying on the street, piled them into heaps, and burned them. if the death count was counted then it is likely it will never be released and/or never be able to be confirmed. it was also reported that several hundred people, mainly protesters now in hiding, were executed between june and august. in 1990 thousands were still in jail for their participation and, at this point in time, ill hazard a guess that theyre either still in there or are dead. the surviving leaders of the democracy movement fled the country almost immediately.

a safe estimation of the death toll, with both physical and witness testimony, puts the death toll of soldiers at perhaps a dozen, and the death toll of civilians between 400-several thousand. blood and burned tanks stained the streets of beijing for a time after the massacre, and a recreation of a bloodied sect of street remains in wroclaw, poland, as a response in solidarity with the victims.

this is the memorial. this is a recreation of an actual piece of street. what you see is a bicycle, toppled and crushed, and the heavy tracks of a tank. the red paint - that’s the blood of a massacred chinese civilian.

7) general current status

now going through a lot of my old notes, i found two very good slides of quotes i made during my note-taking period that just about sums this section up:

[full sources will be at the end of the post]

8) leftists and my interpretation

i know that it can all seem that the perception of the chinese government as bad and scary and terrible is all a capitalist propaganda piece to demonise china. some of this perception is, and a lot of this perception also falls into orientalism. however the government that was created and left by deng xiaoping is nothing short of evil, and taking its side as a stance against capitalism when the tiananment square massacred a whole heap of pro-maoist activists is...well. it’s uneducated and idiotic. its also highly offensive because these are people who would align with leftism. these people were killed by a violent, classist government that sought to become capitalism, all for peacefully attempting to negotiate openly with deng xiaoping’s policies. they were massacred, hunted down, imprisoned. there is nothing else to say here, no controversy. denying this happened is along the lines of holocaust denial and it disgusts me to see my fellow leftists engaging in such right wing conspiratorial thought.

please, please reblog this. i think a lot of people understand vaguely what happened but dont truly understand. and while im not suggesting im an expert - all ive done is provided a basic summary with some extra explanation from a leftist perspective - and chinese history isnt even my forte - i would prefer to teach those what i know and open up discussion from proper chinese history scholars and chinese leftists themselves.

i also hope that this gives perspective to the current student protests in hong kong, and why student protests being shut down signals the proper end of the chinese communist era and china’s shift to totalitarian capitalism and fascism.

i would love for some chinese leftists, historians, and scholars to add in if you feel.

SOURCES/FURTHER READING:

Books, Papers, Newspaper Articles:

Amnesty International (1990) China: The Massacre of June 1989 and its Aftermath, 17th March, 1990

Harding, H. (1990) The Impact of Tiananmen on China’s Foreign Policy, National Bureau of Asian and Soviet Research, December 1990

Kristof, N.D. “A Reassessment of How Many Died in the Military Crackdown in Beijing”. The New York Times, 21st June, 1989.

Laidlaw, R. (1994) China: A Documentary History, MacMillan, South Melbourne

Richelson, J.T., and Evans, M.L. (1999) Tiananmen Square, 1989: The Declassified History [Online] Available at: https://nsarchive.gwv.edu.BSAEBB/NSAEBB16/, Accessed 1st August, 2017

Laidlaw, R. (1994) China: A Documentary History, MacMillan Education Australia, South Melbourne

Amnesty International (1990) China: The Massacre of June 1989 and its Aftermath, 17th March 1990

Summaries and Discussions:

Leslie, T. (2014) Tiananmen Square massacre: Look back on how the crackdown unfolded [Online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-04/how-the-tiananmen-square-massacre-unfolded/5496454, Accessed 8th August 2017

Nathan, A.J. (2009) The Consequences of Tiananmen [Online] Available at: www.resetdoc.org/story/00000001371, Accessed 1st August 2017

Ping, H., translated by Robertson, M. (2015) How the Tiananmen Massacre Changed China, and the World [Online] Available at: www.chinachange.org/2015/06/02/how-the-Tiananmen-massacre-changed-china-and-the-world/, Accessed 8th August, 2017

Rayman, N. (2016) 6 Things You Should Know About the Tiananmen Square Massacre [Online] Available at: https://time.com/2822290/Tiananmen-square-massacre-facts-time/, Accessed 1st August 2017

*i couldnt seem to find the “wang” source in my reference list however i do vaguely recall it being quoted amongst one of the above sources. if anyone is curious ill see if i can properly sniff it out

#tiananmen square #history

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orbemnews · 3 years

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Janet Yellen just proved markets can't handle the truth The details: At an event hosted by The Atlantic, Yellen, an economist who previously led the Federal Reserve, indicated that the central bank may need to hike interest rates to prevent prices from rising too quickly. “It may be that interest rates will have to rise somewhat to make sure that our economy doesn’t overheat,” Yellen said. Her comments rippled through markets, feeding a selloff in tech stocks that could take a beating when rates rise. She later clarified that she wasn’t predicting or making any recommendations to the Fed, whose independence she respects, and does not expect inflation to be a persistent, major issue. “I don’t think there’s going to be an inflationary problem, but if there is, the Fed can be counted on to address [it],” Yellen said later Tuesday at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit. Step back: The content of what Yellen said wasn’t revolutionary. The US economy is on track to stage a full recovery from the pandemic this year as demand bounces back and the employment situation improves. As the economy strengthens, the Federal Reserve will eventually have to raise rates, which can’t stay at rock bottom levels indefinitely. “Markets were unhappy at this statement of the blindingly obvious,” said Paul Donovan, chief economist of UBS Global Wealth Management. “Rates will clearly rise in the future.” But investors remain on edge about when, exactly, that will happen — especially with valuations of assets like stocks looking extremely rich and vulnerable to a pullback. Most Federal Reserve officials think the central bank won’t move away from super-low interest rates until after 2023. At the same time, signs of price pressures in different parts of the economy are growing. See here: Bottlenecks following the pandemic are causing all kind of problems in supply chains that could lead to higher prices. Carmaker Stellantis (FCAU) said Wednesday that the computer chip shortage roiling the auto industry is getting worse. Meanwhile, the price of commodities is climbing, with the Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index, which tracks 23 raw materials, hitting its highest level since 2011. In a survey of manufacturers from the Institute for Supply Management released earlier this week, suppliers complained of rising prices, as well as limited availability of parts and materials that were making it difficult to meet the burst of demand. “The current electronics/semiconductor shortage is having tremendous impacts on lead times and pricing,” one respondent said. “Additionally, there appears to be a general inflation of prices across most, if not all, supply lines.” Big picture: Whether investors want it to or not, post-Covid inflation has arrived. What matters is whether higher prices are transient, as Yellen forecasts, or turn out to have staying power. “The question is not whether there will be some inflation this year, but whether it will represent ‘overheating’ of the economy as a whole,” J. Bradford DeLong, a professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley, wrote in a column published Tuesday. Wall Street is ready to end the era of Zoom meetings Fed up with remote work, Wall Street’s bosses are preparing to bring employees back to the office on a large scale — moves that could reinvigorate the US financial center after more than a year of pandemic life. The latest: Most Goldman Sachs (GS) workers will be back in lower Manhattan by mid-June, according to a memo sent to staff on Tuesday. “We are focused on progressing on our journey to gradually bring our people back together again, where it is safe to do so, and are now in a position to activate the next steps in our return to office strategy,” CEO David Solomon, President John Waldron and CFO Stephen Scherr wrote. The executives said they “continue to be encouraged by the rollout of vaccines” in many areas and the “effectiveness of the health and safety protocols we have put in place.” Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon said he’s sick of remote working, which hurts corporate culture and makes it difficult to compete for clients. Last week, the bank announced it will open its US offices to all employees on May 17, subject to a 50% occupancy cap. “We want people back at work and my view is some time in September, October, it will look just like it did before,” Dimon said. “Yes, people don’t like commuting, but so what?” That said: Some fixtures of the pre-pandemic financial world aren’t ever coming back. CME Group announced Tuesday that it won’t reopen physical trading pits that were closed in Chicago last March due to Covid-19. Once iconic hubs for trading commodities like soybeans, such locations have been made superfluous by electronic trading — and after staying empty for many months, they may be on their way out for good. Ethereum’s 27-year-old creator is now a billionaire Vitalik Buterin, a 27-year-old Russian-Canadian programmer, created ethereum in 2013 when he was 19 years old. Now, as the cryptocurrency skyrockets, his net worth is soaring. Buterin holds about 333,500 ether in his public wallet, my CNN Business colleague Alexis Benveniste reports. Multiply that by the $3,500 record high it hit on Tuesday, and you get more than $1.1 billion. Not bad. What we know: Buterin co-founded Bitcoin Magazine, a publication that covers bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, in 2012. In 2014, he was selected to be part of the Thiel Fellowship, a two-year program created by billionaire Peter Thiel that “gives $100,000 to young people who want to build new things instead of sitting in a classroom.” But Buterin keeps a fairly low profile. He isn’t super active on social media — even though he boasts 1.4 million Twitter followers. Big picture: Ethereum is down from recent highs on Wednesday, but is still trading at more than $3,300. It’s surged more than 350% since the start of 2021. Part of the digital coin’s success can be credited to the fact that it’s the cryptocurrency of choice for purchasing many non-fungible tokens, or NFTs — digital artwork and other collectibles that are transformed into one-of-a-kind, verifiable assets that are easy to trade on the blockchain. But questions remain about whether NFTs are a game changer, or just a passing fad. Up next Dine Brands (DIN), General Motors (GM), Hilton (HLT), New York Times (NYT) and Scott’s Miracle-Gro (SMG) report results before US markets open. Booking Holdings, Etsy (ETSY), MetLife (MET), PayPal (PYPL), Rocket Companies and Uber (UBER) follow after the close. Also today: The ADP private employment report for April arrives at 8:15 a.m. ET. The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index, an important read of the US services sector, follows at 10 a.m. ET. Coming tomorrow: Earnings from Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), ArcelorMittal (AMSYF), Moderna (MRNA) and Volkswagen (VLKAF). Source link Orbem News #handle #investing #Janet #Markets #Premarketstocks:JanetYellenjustprovedmarketscan'thandlethetruth-CNN #proved #truth #Yellen

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