#sensationalised media

[ninety-two-bees]

once again having thoughts i cannot share about how a lot of fic writers talk about kidnapping

[queer-geordie-nerd]

If any society as a whole really cared about uplifting and supporting rape survivors as much as we like to pretend we do, or even half as much as we like to make excuses for abusers and rapists, perhaps women wouldn't feel the need to keep the abhorrent crimes perpetrated against them to themselves for years for fear of being re-traumatised by the legal system and the court of public opinion.

[crimson--freak]

Apparently the NHS isn’t going to prescribe puberty blockers to trans children anymore unless under “exceptional circumstances” or as part of a trial.

Go figure :/

[robinsnest2111]

the way I almost came out to my aunt today....

one day I will snap when she calls me by my birth name 5-10 times a day and it'll be less than pleasant but for now I just grin and bear it and hope that one day I'll find the right moment to approach the topic...

[selectivechaos]

types of flashbacks.

[ID: text reads: “3 Types Of Flashbacks Due to Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Visual is where trauma is re-experienced as a visual picture.

Somatic is where pain and body sensations are felt due to re-experiencing the physical pain of the trauma.

Emotional is where intense emotions occur due to triggers to emotions felt during past trauma.”

At the bottom of the image, text reads: “Healing From Complex Trauma & PTSD/ cPTSD. Copyright Protected. See more info on my Website - the link is in my bio https://www.healingfromcomplextraumaandptsd.com/ . End ID]

[petalsandpurity]

Maybe an unpopular opinion but I have no idea how the majority of the internet are finding this submarine situation funny?? Like this whole reaction to it all just seems a bit gross to me

[sapphosarchive]

.

[purinfelix]

is it casual now? ✶⋆.˚

pairing - joao felix x reader summary - after yet another night spent together in secrecy, you finally build up the courage to ask Joao and uncomfortable question warnings - some angst, possibly a toxic relationship? word count - 1k

a/n: just bc ive been listening to chappell roan NONSTOP lately and realised i hadn't written a full length fic in a hot minute !!! hope u guys enjoy <333

There were a lot of people who wanted to know what kind of relationship you and Joao had.

Of course, there were endless amounts of media outlets and gossip pages that seemed to have eyes following everywhere the two of you went. It got to the point where you knew any time you were with him publicly, it would only be a few hours before your timeline was inundated with sensationalised headlines or sneakily taken candids.

Then there were the avid fans who commented on these posts, dreaming up theories that never failed to surprise you - that you were a childhood friend, a secret lover reuniting with him, or worst of all, that you were a ‘wannabe-WAG’ attempting to use Joao for his money. Perhaps most annoyingly though were your friends, who pressed endlessly for details whenever you mentioned having met up with the footballer recently despite your protests.

Sometimes it felt like all eyes were on you and your relationship - but sitting here, in a plush white hotel bathrobe on an equally plush and white hotel bed - you couldn’t help but feel as though you were the one who wanted to know most of all. You let the hand holding your phone fall to your side, heart heavy after seeing yet another gossip page post about the outing the two of you had gone on earlier the day with a headline relaying the typical narrative that you were nothing more than a gold-digging fake.

“Don’t bother with those,” you hear a soft voice behind you, Joao making his way out of the hotel bathroom in a matching bathrobe. His hair is still dripping wet from the shower and you’re almost envious of the way his skin glows in the soft ambient light. “Those idiots don’t know anything,” his tone is adamant, and you’d almost think he was being genuine.

“Well, it’s not like you tell them anything,” you mumble, barely louder than a whisper but he still catches the attitude in your tone.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he scoffs, tossing the small towel he was using to dry his hair to the ground without a care. Making his way to the other side of the bed, he lies chest-down, eyes fixed on you.

“All I’m saying is,” the regret in your voice at having brought up this tired conversation is evident but the almost daring expression on Joao’s face forces you on, “we can’t expect them not to make all these crazy theories when you’ve basically been keeping me a secret all this time.”

“Hey I thought we both agreed to keep this a secret, why is it all my fault all of a sudden?”

“It’s not, it’s just,” you sigh in frustration, eyes wandering the room - the crumpled bedsheets beneath you, your bag laying on the bedside table, contents half-spilled, your shirt laying where you had hastily thrown it - anywhere but his face.

“Just what?” he presses, and you bite your lip in a futile attempt to stop yourself from asking the question that’s been on your mind for as long as you’ve known him.

“What are we, Joao?” your gaze falls to your own lap, unable to look at the expression on his face as you’re sure it’ll only make his response sting more.

“Why are you asking me this now?” It’s clear this was the last thing he was expecting from the way he’s taken aback and slightly amused - which only frustrates you more.

“Why can’t I?”

“I mean, I thought we were just keeping this casual, you know? That’s what we agreed upon isn’t it?”

“Yeah, months ago.” You try to maintain your temper but you can’t help your voice from raising a little, “Don’t you think it’s time to reconsider that? I mean we’re a bit more than casual don’t you think? Casual doesn’t involve fancy hotel hook-ups or night time beach walks!”

“I don’t know, I mean,” his defensiveness irritates you, “You know what it’s like being a footballer, I just can’t have anything threatening my position right now. I need to focus on the game, a distraction is the last thing I need.”

“And what about me Joao? Don’t you think I’m tired of the constant slander I get every time we’re out together?” You feel your heart racing and your blood boiling, “You’ve seen the articles haven’t you?”

“Look, it’s late, I’m tired and really don’t feel like talking about this now. Can we just go to sleep? We’ll discuss this in the morning.” He doesn’t even wait for your reply before stretching out underneath the blankets with a loud fake-yawn. You just sit there slack jawed, not entirely surprised but still a little taken aback that he would just cut you off like that, in the middle of a conversation you had been rehearsing in your head for weeks like it was nothing.

You know he’s lying about discussing this in the morning but still, you reach over to turn off the lamp on your side table before slowly pulling the blanket over yourself - not like you have any other option. You make a point of turning your back to him and huffing though, too frustrated to fall asleep as your mind continues to whir with thoughts about all the things you’re going to say to him the minute you’re awake tomorrow.

That is, at least, until you feel the familiarly gentle touch of Joao’s hands around your waist, tugging you close to him until he’s able to fully envelope you in his arms. He kisses the back of your head - a slow, sleepy, almost genuine apology. You can’t do anything other than let out a soft sigh, closing your eyes and letting yourself get lost in the comfort you’ve learnt to find in his touch, in his scent, and his presence - no matter how fleeting it may be.

Because even if you wake up tomorrow to an empty bed, no sign of him even having been here at all other than a heavy heart, and no one else in the world knows what sort of relationship the two of you have - at least you’ll have moments like these to yourself to savour.

[soon-palestine]

[9w1ft]

about that anon who said the only female friend Taylor was sexualised with was Karlie - honestly that part of the 1989 prologue where she says she thought people wouldn't sensationalise and sexualise her female friendships never looked to me like she meant that in a shipping way?? maybe i'm being delusional but i always thought she expressed her annoyance with the fact that she and her friends were talked about inappropriately and judged for their appearance and compared to each other who is more attractive etc etc

no yes so i think that’s what it was referring to on the surface level. the squad. it’s that one story beat she has referred to interviews over the years about how she didn’t get to have a lot of friends growing up because she was bullied or because she grew up on the road and how with 1989 she was enjoying the girlhood and girl friend experience that she never had. like, mid 2010’s taylor and her model friends were a hot button topic of public conversation and the media that drives it: all these articles about how taylor’s new friends are too hot, too skinny, too rich, not diverse, she’s not country anymore, it’s cliquey, etc.

but because this is the taylor swift fan community everybody is trained to look beyond this first layer and see extra meaning. and in the case of gaylor (umbrella term) stuff, and kaylor stuff, when you’re a hammer everything looks like a nail. swifties attack gaylors, gaylors attack kaylors, etc, you know the drill

at the same time, when you go one layer deeper, i don’t think people can fully say taylor had no idea what she was implying or how it would be received by some people. so one begins to wonder if it’s intentional in some way.

so a few layers down the discourse becomes distilled into something more meta: “why does taylor throw us under the bus again and again” which is a sort of fandom meta truth. but, i often think the intentions are a few layers up from this, where we are not the focus, and that it’s up to us to see how the benefits for her outweigh our collective peace. like when she does something that leads to fandom drama, she’s also often pushing the entire conversation around her work or persona forward in some aspects that are strategic or meaningful. often times that become more clear as time goes on.

for me, i think that because of this, it’s up to us as a group to treat one another and ourselves the best that we can. to be as self sufficient as we can. not because ‘she’s not looking out for us’ but because like, this isn’t about us first and foremost at the end of the day. and plus, there are many ways we can all stay healthy and upbeat on our own. and anyway, bringing up other ways to look at things, just as you did here anon, as a great way go about it. so thank you for pointing this out!

[konigsblog]

Oh Orla….Thing that cracks me up about these puritan idiots is… they’re simping for fictional special forces operators, you know, people who’s job is to potentially kill people. Sure they’re a very flowery, sensationalised version and there’s nothing wrong with not liking the stuff you or I write (block, move on, go do your maths homework kid.) My stuff isn’t for everyone, and that’s fine I respect all opinions if handled properly.

But… use your fucking brain; eg. your softboi sweetie uwu coffee shop AU version of Simon Riley is so far removed from reality, that you have no ground to stand on as to what’s ‘right’ in terms of fanfic.

Every piece of fanfic is technically inaccurate to the character and how they’d act and that’s fine, that’s what it’s for, for fun. Just stop acting like grown adults that give plenty of fucking warnings on their blogs and posts about the dark nature of their work are the weird ones when you can’t even comprehend the actual nature of the media you’re consuming 😂

Also… know how they never actually go things with consequences? Like… say how some aspects of the porn industry harm REAL people? Yeah, nah, they’re fighting the good fight, making such a difference to the world with their vague posts about you/us writing a non existent soldier as something short of a fairy, angelic prince ahahahaha.

absolutely, you're so right about this -- it's the fact they're more worried about dark fiction writers than actual victims of SA and rape. they don't actually care about them, they just can't handle someone else having another opinion, or writing something that's not made for them. it's beyond immature, and insulting those who use it as coping mechanisms, telling them to go to therapy, it's childish (reading non-con to cope is a great coping mechanism, some therapist's may recommend it. and, they're clearly not thinking about how hurtful and damaging their words are to survivors and victims of SA, telling them they're gross for liking it, while claiming to support victims is immature.)

i'm 100% not saying everyone has to enjoy my work, but don't go out of your way to make multiple posts about me, naming and shaming me for the content i produce. if they really cared about victims of SA, they wouldn't be insulting victims for enjoying non-con.

and you don't need to like my work, but you also don't have to send me paragraphs upon paragraphs on why you think i'm disgusting, how you hate me, ect... 1. i won't bother reading it, it's pathetic and useless, these hate anons are too close-minded to understand the reasoning behind my work. 2. i'm not going to take a hate anon seriously. i know they're sending it out of spite, jealousy or anger.

simon being a cute, little barista isn't very accurate either, but that's the whole point of fiction; it's NOT ALWAYS GOING TO BE ACCURATE. we all have our different headcannons, there's no need to shit on mine because it doesn't align with yours!

thank you for the support, minty :33 i appreciate your thoughts and the message 💗🫂

[anarchistfrogposting]

Genuine question. How does an anarchist state deal with people who want to kill for fun? Do we just let them, because to have rules is to oppose ever single anarchist value, or do we stop them because true anarchism like that would be the death of humanity?

It’s a question that anarchists get a lot. I’ll say first and foremost that, like any other field I personally am not involved in the organisation of, public safety is better left to professionals who understand its machinations (and hence how to deconstruct its inherent hierarchies) better than myself (and no, I don’t mean the police).

I’ll also posit that anarchist society is absolutely not founded on the concept of an absence of rules, just an absence of hierarchical (as opposed to self-) government. I don’t blame you for thinking that; it’s a very common perception of anarchism, especially considering the associations people tend to form with the word anarchism and anarchy in modern lexicon.

It’s true that sometimes, somehow, people end up in a path of life wherein they would do something as heinous as kill for fun, or other various unjust reasons.

I’d first like to posit that such people and situations, whilst sensationalised, are in fact pretty rare.

But they might still exist, so what do we do about them? The first step, like in much anarchist praxis, is to shift perceptions and culture. Whilst it’s true that humans love gossip, I would also posit that much of the culture around serial murders and the like exists because media companies exaggerate and glamorise murder in order to grab clicks/interactions/readers. This is most stark, for example, in the cycle of American gun violence.

Familial units would be significantly less isolated as a result of their integration into their communities, meaning the cycles and chains of domestic abuse that often lead to the proliferation of those violent tendencies would be much less common. It’s worth remembering that capitalism’s rise came hand in hand with the breakdown in communities; that it had to in order to succeed.

But let’s say the revolution has happened, culture has shifted and yet there’s still mass and serial murderers out and about. What do we do about it?

Community self government also means community self defence. On a voluntary basis, that means that communities can set up security measures like communal watches, (extensively trained, cyclically employable and imminently accountable and recallable) guards, and even detainment revolving around the attempted reformation and treatment of those individuals.

Fundamentally, detainment exists as a means to reform individuals, and the workers in those facilities would all receive training and all be fully accountable and recallable to and by their communities. Accountability measures include enforcing transparency and setting up dual power that includes the prisoners themselves, the communities concerned with those facilities, and the staff volunteering in it.

This approach is contentious, and different anarchists have different opinions on the most effective strategies. A great example of a leading prison abolitionist is Angela Davis, if you’re interested in learning more about systems of justice outside of imprisonment.

Keep sending in your questions! I’ll do my best to answer (as long as you’re asking in good faith!) no (genuine) question is too silly.

[raytorosaurus]

…what have tinhatters done to Millions

oh yk it hasn't been so bad recently but there used to be a day where you couldn't scroll ur dash without seeing jokes (among more serious theories) abt how millions is about (and directed at/a dig at) frank/frerard specifically. bums me out when ppl engage with frank and gerard's solo work through frerard goggles and settle for shallow out-of-context readings of certain lines/songs bc it's just...so reductive and deliberately obtuse yk? obvs all of gerard's lyrics are open for interpretation by design and when enough ppl choose to interpret them in a tinhatty way it starts being considered fact in some circles. there is so much more to engage with in this art...and millions definitely got the worst of that which is kinda sad bc it's such a vulnerable and meaningful song and is sort of the centrepiece of a lot of hesitant alien's themes about navigating fame and dehumanisation, success and expectation, martyrdom and survival. millions literally has a line that is, imo, a pretty explicit statement that continuing mcr would've killed him (the "wake up breathing" part), but to so many ppl all it is is "oooh the frank-getting-rejected-by-gerard song...so cold..."

like it's just kinda annoying to see ppl insist there's No Other Possible Interpretation of the "william it was really me" verse than a catty dig at frank when...hesitant alien is very intentionally an out-of-time britpop album and that is a smiths reference and britpop notoriously helped normalise musicians being seen as personalities, not just artists, by the media, with publicised and sensationalised fueds, fallings out, etc etc. gerard grew up listening to britpop and reading those interviews alone, then consciously emulated some of those ppl during his career, and in millions it's like he's looking at that from the other side of fame...etc etc i could go on. not saying this is the only interpretation either, just that there is so much context there (outside frerard fan theories) to consider and engage with and for a while so many ppl wouldn't acknowledge that haha

[conschintz]

You obviously don't have to respond, feel free to delete my question entirely if you're not up to it, but I would love if you could talk about some ways the D20 fandom is being disrespectful about cults and how it could be better?

hi! thank you for asking this so respectfully. i want to be clear that this is not the whole of the d20 fandom, but only a very small minority of people!

for anyone new to my blog, wondering why i care about this, i grew up as a 4th generation jehovah's witness and escaped last year. i lost 20 years of my life and my entire family to the watchtower bible and tract society. educating people about cults and high-control groups is something that i'm very passionate about

the most common thing i've seen, across tumblr, reddit, and discord, is people making insensitive jokes/statements. anything that trivialises the cult, and/or thorn and viola's role in it. calling them your favourite cult couple is not cool. saying that you'd join the cult because of xyz reason (especially anything regarding "thorn/viola/jasper/rashawn is hot!") is not cool. making jokes at olliver and teedles' expense is not cool. this might seem nitpicky and harmless to most people, and in no way do i think that anyone is doing this maliciously—i want to make that really, really clear—but this kind of stuff is harmful to cult survivors. in general, it minimalises the impact of cults, of their leaders, of their victims etc. i think this is a flaw with the portrayal of cults in media at large, where they are generally sensationalised. the lukura doesn't seem like much of a cult when put up against others, especially if you're comparing it to real-life ones. but that's what's so scary; aabria and jasper are so subtle. they're really, really good at what they're doing

i'm rambling. but all of this is to ask to just be mindful of what you're posting/saying. it might not seem harmful to you, but it is exhausting to scroll through posts making light of something that is affecting my day-to-day. i am not getting shunned by my entire family for someone to joke around about joining a "cool" stoat cult, with little regard to the actual real-life consequences of actual cults that are far more prevalent in modern-day society than most people think

[forzafinally]

What was it that made you a Charles fan last year?

Hey! So my first exposure to F1 was through a few friends here who were very much into F1 and big Lewis fans. I didn't really know anything about Charles till I watched DTS in August I think because I was curious about what the whole hype was about.

The last season they had shown on DTS back then was 2022 and as sensationalised as the whole thing might have been, I was actively rooting for Charles to win the WDC while watching the show. I really liked his passion towards racing and the whole mythos surrounding Ferrari as a team. It seemed like something that was genuinely worth rooting for.

So then I checked the results of the latest race around that time which was Monza. I was hoping that Ferrari has finally got their shit together. As they were in contention for the WDC last year, I assumed that they would have learnt from their mistakes and built a car that was able to challenge Red Bull as they obviously had the technology and skills to build a car that was fast. Charles had come P4 iirc and I was like maybe that isn't so bad after all. But then I checked the results of the rest of the season and well, we all know how that went lol.

Singapore 23 was the first F1 race that I ever watched and I think that a Ferrari win gave me slightly unrealistic expectations about how competitive they could be. However, that race was also a Ferrari strategy disasterclass and I was just sitting there wondering how the hell Charles was staying with a team that couldn't handle two drivers being competitive at the same time.

Over the rest of the season I watched Charles drag the SF-23 to the front row multiple times and that was something that was impressive to me. Yes he wasn't able to match the Red Bulls in racepace. But even coming P1 in qualy is something that isn't easy. I can't imagine Max not wanting to start P1 even if he knows he has better race pace and can make up the positions later in the race. And it wasn't like Carlos was able to get the same results from the car.

Multiple people say that Max is what makes the difference as a driver in Red Bull, it's not just the car. Similarly it is Charles who was making the difference in Ferrari and not Carlos. The funny thing is that he was getting absolutely slaughtered for it by the media which is just?????? Any other driver was being hailed as a miracle for being able to challenge Max at all but when it was Charles it was somewhat taken to be a foregone conclusion. The bias was astounding.

Las Vegas as a race genuinely impressed me not just because Charles came P2 but his attitude throughout the entire race. Despite the fact that Max had won the championship at that time he still wanted to win the race and I don't think it was just wishful thinking on his part - he genuinely believed that he could win it. Looking at other driver's interviews throughout the season, I always got a sense of inevitability. That no matter what they do it's going to be Max who wins. Also if Max would overtake them once over the race it was over. Not many people would think they could challenge him again. But in Vegas, Charles kept trying multiple times and it was that tenacity that impressed me. He didn't settle for P3. He overtook Max just before he pitted the first time and overtook Checo on pure race pace on the last corner and that is something that showed me that he was a driver worth rooting for because he's not afraid to take that extra risk.

Also, in one of the end of the season interviews a reporter asked him how it felt to finish ahead of his teammate and his answer was that none of it mattered if he wasn't finishing first in the WDC. Now that's what a winning mentality is. I don't know how anyone can say that he's not serious about being a world champion when he keeps saying things like that.

Also, Charles also seemed to be a genuine team player with how he was trying his best to help get Ferrari P2 in constructors last year. To me it did showcase a fair amount of maturity and growth and being selfless enough to look out for the team instead of just himself as an individual.

Also all the fan interactions that I would see on social media were overwhelmingly positive which is a huge green flag in my books because at the end of the day not all celebrities are kind to their fans. But Charles always seemed to make an active effort to be polite and kind and just not take that love for granted if you know what I mean? Lastly, it's obvious that his fellow drivers respect him so much. He's someone who is considered to be both a safe and fast racer which isn't something that you see a lot.

Ultimately, he's a tiofoso and a Ferrari driver who wants to win the championship and I think that's something that's worth supporting. I also don't think he's just blindly loyal to the team and it's all just emotion. He has been firm enough to put his foot down where it actually matters like getting Fred at TP and classy enough to not be messy in the media. 26 is not old enough to even consider him being washed. Ferrari has given him one of the longest contracts ever for a reason. And I personally don't think he has reached his full potential as a driver yet. I can't wait to see what happens when he does. So yes the season as a whole wasn't the best for Charles but I see great potential in him and I intend to stick around to see him live up to it :)

[laura1633]

I'm not a huge Lando fan or hater, but tbh I'm pretty shocked by all the vitriol directed at him since the race. Like I don't think landos comments in the interview were great, he could have been calmer, more diplomatic and eloquent. But... he isn't those things? From all the interviews of him I've seen since 2019, the constant traits he shows are that he's anxious, emotional, and not great at stringing a sentence together on his best day (which is probably at least partially related to his dyslexia, a learning disorder that can absolutely impact someone's ability to find the right words and express themselves verbally).

And so this guy, who skews very emotional, who has just experienced a crash and DNFd from the race, is put in front of a bunch of cameras and asked a bunch of questions while hes still full of adrenaline, and is now being absolutely devoured because he was mad and reactive and didn't offer a carefully nuanced perspective in that moment?

I just think people are holding lando to an impossibly high standard.

Response is below the cut again so that people can scroll past but given this ask was a different perspective I thought it only fair to share and respond.

I honestly don't know what type of reaction Lando is getting on social media or in any other space. I had to switch off from everywhere except here when I started to read people talking about Max deserving another crash like Silverstone 2021 which I thought was an absolutely vile thing to say and the sport would be better off without "fans" like that.

The reason I said that I give Lando a lot of leeway is because I have always found him to be awkward in interviews . I don't actually mean for that to come across as rude, as someone who has anxiety and adhd I also struggle a lot with expressing my thoughts, especially verbally. So I suppose awkward isn't the correct word, perhaps a better word is uncomfortable.

I also interpret things differently from some others so when Lando has said in the past "I should have won", I interpret it as him being hard on himself rather than self entitled. I also noticed that when he was talking about the effects of the safety car in Canada and saying he would have won without it a lot of the quotes cut off there whereas I know Lando went on to say something along the lines of "but the safety car helped me in Miami". It's clickbait reporting and I have also seen it happen to other drivers such as Max and Lewis. A lot of the blame can lie with the way things are reported and sensationalised.

To me personally the comments Lando made yesterday went beyond 'not giving a nuanced answer' but that is just my opinion. I should also say that its my opinion as a Max fan and I will always be honest and upfront about the fact that I am biased when it comes to anything to do with Max.

What I will say is that I don't think there was any need for the media to ask about their friendship. They could have just asked about the incident itself. I think the media have been building up and waiting for this moment and that is why we have heard so much about their friendship over the last few months. The media will be loving this as they really seem to enjoy making a soap opera out of a sport.

I make no attempt to say I see this through neutral eyes, I see this as a Max supporter. At the same time I don't think there is any need for people to be targeted and attacked on social media, I wouldn't want that for Lando in the same way as I wouldn't want that for Max. These are real people at the end of the day.

We have seen worse contact between other drivers and worse comments and reactions and people have made up and got on with things so lets see how it goes.