#that doesn’t change the fact everyone in the west benefits from this system that has historically oppressed and harmed non-western countrie

[boysborntodie]

“I don’t talk about Palestine because I don’t like going into politics : /” fuck you. The existence of Muslims and MENA people has always been political to the West. Their lives and their deaths. Their happiness and anger and sorrow. Their love and hatred. Their sweat and blood and tears. Everything has always been reduced to politics when they are more than you could ever begin to comprehend. Palestine will be free. And so will Sudan and Pakistan and Lebanon and Yemen and Syria and every other country, place and people who suffer only for their pain to be called political by those responsible for and complicit in it

[lovecinnatwist]

How would you go about writing omega Jason with Alpha Dick?

Man oh man- Omega!Jason with Alpha!Dick is always such a bop.

It depends really! I see so many fics with insecure Jason thinking Dick is too good for him which is nice and definitely in character- but sometimes it makes me crave the other end of the spectrum?

Like a confident, sexy Jason who teases Dick with his scent and body until the alpha wants to implode? I also like the idea of Jason being raised by an Omeganist!Alfred and Omega!Talia to be badass, sassy and sensual. Bras? Suppressants? Painful heats?

Not for Jason Todd!

He embraces his Omega-ninity and it wreaks havoc on Dick's hormones. Dick being a more conservative alpha would definitely find himself overwhelmed but enamored!

Here's something playful with a clumsy Alpha!Dick and confident pack Omega!Jason!

Tiddies Out - JayDick

Tags: Omegaverse, AlphaDick, OmegaJason, Pining, Crack treated Seriously, Lactating, Heat Cycles, Omega Tim, Alpha Bruce, Pup Damian- Just Dick being an obvious pining idiot and Jason enjoying his reactions-

Jason doesn’t mind being an omega. How could he when it’s one of the superior options? While Alpha’s often lost themselves to aggression during rutting season and beta’s scrambled to placate them- Omega’s got to sit back and watch the show.

Being the object of an alpha’s fascination has many perks. First off? The gifts. Lavish offerings make their way to him with little to no effort. Weaponry from Talia, Expensive silks and poisons from Ras, The latest tech from Tim and Bruce. It's an endless parade really. One of the few things that make this more bearable to put up with.

He’s a heavy milker. Always has been.

Maybe it’s from growing up in an abusive household. Perhaps it's in response to being closer to the pack’s pups or hell, maybe his body is just gearing up for the imaginary children it wants to have. Regardless of the reason Jason’s tits are aching.

They seem extra tender tonight. The cold dingy air does little to ease the tension under his armor. He shifts and the way his pads squish under bullet proof chest plates is a pain. He curses and tries to ignore it. Something that’s getting harder as the cotton under his clothing reaches its limit. Tsk- 4 hours his ass. It’s barely been 2 and he’s about to make a mess of his gear.

As annoying as it is. He reluctantly reaches into his kit to get two fresh napkins to change. Other omega’s might be shy to do this in public but Jason has always been more practical about it. Breasts are breasts, no reason to get all crazy about it.

Though it probably didn’t hurt that Jason himself had a nice rack. He knows what the other heroes say about him behind his back. His figure has never been more appreciated than now in his prime. The dip in the pit did wonders at helping him bulk up. Thighs thick, emphasising his trim waist. In the throws of season his ample chest gives him an illusion of an hourglass figure. While some people would say omega’s should be small and dainty, he has yet to meet an alpha or beta who can resist him.

Not to be vain but he is nothing else if not attractive.

He’s got his top half way off when the sound of a near violent thud echoes out in the darkness. The hiss of pain gives away the alpha before his scent can. Jason doesn’t even turn in his direction. Instead he keeps his attention on the sopping pads under the compression shirt. He hisses as the gentle adhesive pulls from his throbbing mamories.

“ You alright over there goldie? “

He gets a groan for an answer. A nicer person would have maybe let the other man know about his current state of undress. Too bad that Jason isn’t exactly known for being ‘nice’. He carefully wraps up one cotton cloth. Once he’s clean and dry, he applies another. It’s quick and easy work. The slight chill does wonders against his flush skin.

The worn form of Nightwing crawls from the side of the building. There’s a pretty good bruise on his cheek Jason is 90% sure that the acrobat had a less than graceful landing. He’s always been weird about nudity. Even back when they mostly had the same parts. He rolls his eyes as the man pointedly tries not to look at him. He can’t help scoffing at the false modesty.

“ Hood. You shouldn’t do this out in the open like this. Anyone could see you. “

Everyone knows Jason is an omega, by extension that means Red Hood. It’s one of the reasons why his territory is so well protected. No one wants to cross an omega. While the fangs in their mouths were now more for scruffing kits, no one had forgotten the days when they were for hunting prey and tearing out throats.

He would flash his at Dick but he’s wearing his helmet and would probably just looks stupid. He manages to get the other pad off. It’s absolutely drenched. His left teet is definitely working harder than the right. The sheer weight of the cotton makes a loud squelch as it hits the little plastic bag at his feet.

He snorts. “ And you know what they’d say N? Best tits in Gotham. “

The alpha’s face is anything but amused. The furrow of his brow and spike in his scent is territorial and aggressive. It’s laughable really considering the fact that between the two of them, Jason is actually the one in charge of protecting the pack. It’s all a part of being the lead omega.

Whether Bruce or Dick want to accept it or not.

“ Stop objectifying yourself like that. “

Jason enjoys the feeling of being clean and dry as he gets the other cotton adhesive on. It’s a welcome sensation. Especially when he straightens his armor and it’s a little less chafing and tight.

“ It’s only objectication if I say I’m only a nice pair of tits Wing. Luckily I’ve got a nice set of thighs too.“

He pays Dick no mind as he stands and packs away his used pads to be thrown away later. He might have to call it an early night at the rate. With the way fall is quickly approaching his heat is just dying to make an appearance. Perhaps he could get away with offering himself to the foster system. With the amount of milk he’s making now it would be better for the pups who need it to benefit instead of it all going to the trash.

“ Hood! “ The sound is a scandalized growl. It’s funny enough that Jason throws his head back and laughs free and clear. With the voice modulator it’s mean and menacing. Amusement bubbles in his chest. He can’t help taking off his helmet so that Dick can take in just how wide his smile is.

“ Sorry Wing. I’m a pretty girl. What can I say? “

Talia is nothing but progressive. While many omega’s in the west suffer from low self esteem. Jason learned his worth quickly. Confidence is beauty. The more one loves themselves, adores them selves and takes time to know themselves the more they blossom. It’s a deep healing that not everyone gets to understand. A privilege for a few chosen omegas. He cocks his head and smiles and see’s the exact moment Dick starts losing his footing in the conversation.

The alpha is tongue tied.

“ That’s not what I mean and you know it Hood. “

Jason shrugs. Once he’s got his stuff away he’s ready to run roofs and actually get some work done.

“ Sorry Goldie. It’s 2021 and haven’t you heard? Red Hood says free the tiddies. “

He doesn’t wait for a response as he makes a running start towards the edge of the building. It’s always such a thrill. He tucks a bit to clear the gap. The moment his legs touch the concrete the sound is silent despite the bulk of his frame. Dick calls after him but he loses the words in the wind. Laughter bubbles up in his throat. He wouldn’t be a prude just because his family wanted to be sexually repressed more than they wanted to be happy.

Dick doesn’t try to catch up with him and Jason finishes the night patrolling with Tim and Stephanie.

He manages to get an entire three hours out of the next set of pads. Instead of changing out in the open he accepts Alfred’s invitation back at the manor for a warm bath and cookies. Tim stares at his chest while Jason gets himself decent.

Tim is a gorgeous omega, with a slender petite frame and porcelain doll-like features. He always seems to get shy in the presence of Jason’s more unconventional curves.

Jason knows what low self esteem looks like. The younger omega wears it no matter how much bravo he tries to exude. Jason brushes against him briefly and lightly. His usual fragrance is marshmellowy from the sweetness of milk that clings to it.

There’s an immediate blush as Tim ducks away. Clearly he’s embarrassed from being caught. Though in reality where is the shame in a little boob appreciation amongst omegas?

“ You know Timmy, you gotta stop wearing bras. Maybe if you show a glimpse of those pretty pink nips Kon would take the hint. “

Tim goes red from his ears to his chest. Jason can practically see the steam coming from his ears. He slaps his hands over his petite breast quick enough to hurt. Jason wants to let him scamper off but instead he presses into his space even more. Long gone is the perfume of pup, now that Tim has come fully into his omega hood. Every day his scent leans more and more towards caramel and sugar.

“ Uhg you’re such a jerk. “

Tim tries to dodge out of his hold but Jason gets him anyway. The omega yelps and Jason ducks him right between each swollen peck. They are red and tender from patrol. He hasn’t put on new pads yet so some milk beads at his nipples. The little shriek Tim lets out is hilarious.

“ You’re going to get milk in my hair! Jason stop- God you suck- “

The omega fights and Jason lets him go before the two actually get into it. It’s light and playful. Well for the most part. Tim gets some milk on his face and the teen honest to God looks terrified. He curses all the way to the shower stall to take another quick bath all while Jason cackles at his misfortune.

“ I swear to God, when I start milking I'm going to get you back Ten fold! “

Jason rolls his eyes. As if.The last thing Jason’s afraid of is milk. It’s a natural thing. God everyone in this pack is repressed.

“ We’ll see about that Timberella! “

The omega hisses and Jason has to hold back a laugh as he leaves the shower. He’s so light and high from the interaction that he completely for gos a shirt. Not that he really wants to wear one. Not with how milk heavy and tender his chest is. Alfred’s always been pretty cool about it too. Being from the 60’s and all that jazz.

Jason maybe gets half way through the cave before the sound of metal crashing draws his attention. Dick walks cleanly into one of the metal tables in the middle of the lab space, knocking over tools and gadgets.

Bruce is thoroughly unimpressed from where he’s helping Damian stretch before bed. He’s in half of his costume, suppressors and scent blockers gone. The sheer disappointment in Damian’s gaze is astonishing.

“ Richard, please control yourself. “

The alpha looks like a deer caught in headlights, his mortification absolutely palpable in the air.

Jason does catch his eyes on his chest though. He smirks and sees the moment horror grows in those bright blue eyes. Instead of heading towards the stairs he decides to circle back towards the group.

Bruce chuffs from his position on the floor. He doesn’t stop what he’s doing but does tilt towards him in reverence. It’s been the biggest change in their dynamic. Bruce finally learning to respect Jason as not only a pack mate, but the pack omega. He greets him with a scenting.

Unlike Dick the alpha seems to pay little attention to his milking.

Damian’s puppy nose twitches as he leans towards him. It makes his heart flutter really. While Damian would never ask, Jason has thought of offering his breast many times. While Technically too old for it, they’ve all done their fair share of growing up too quickly. Something that Jason Laments as well as appreciates.

He scents Damian more thoroughly than Bruce, making him bristle. The boy tries to move out of his hold, hands swatting him away.

“ Todd cease your pestering immediately! If I smell of milk my peers will assume I still breastfeed. “

Jason snorts and pulls back from the prickly pup. Bruce gets a stupid fond look on his face and for a brief moment he feels it echoing on his lips.

“ And what’s wrong with that? If your pack omega is milking of course as a pup you’re welcome to it. “

Damian’s green eyes widen a fraction. His mouth opens in disbelief. Clearly, Damian in fact did not know that. Bruce stares as well, his scent turning into a sweet blend of ‘love-admiration-awe’. It draws a shiver up Jason’s spine. The tender mix of affection from his pack blankets over him like a net of spun sugar.

Jason doesn’t know why he feels drawn to look at Dick. The alpha hasn’t said anything in the past minute. He cuts his gaze to the stone still alpha and his heart flutters in excitement. The looks of jealousy and want is so strong that his intentions sparkle clear like aquamarine in shallow ocean waters.

The alpha is so much more honest when he thinks Jason isn’t looking.

He grins at Dick.

The alpha immediately shrinks in shame and embarrassment.

“ And of course any alpha spending my heat with me. “

[dramaticviolincrescendo]

A Fitting Finale: Bringing Ian Full-Circle

Is everyone sick of my essays yet? Excellent. Here’s another anyway!

I’ve been trying to put my finger on what it is about Ian’s story in s11 that I love so much. It’s clear that he’s struggling on a number of levels, and he’s certainly spent the first third of the season under so much stress that it’s impacted his moods and marriage. In 11x04, we began to see hints of the tension breaking, and it made me realize that there’s a common trend in Ian’s behavior throughout the series coming to a head in his final act. It’s part of what has him so passionately advocating for Mickey to get a legal job, communicating their need to hammer out the specifics of what their marriage means, and upset at his own employment status.

From start to finish, Ian has been driven by two important motivators: love and fear.

Ian’s deep sense of love and compassion for others is well documented. We know that he will do anything for his family. I’ve mentioned before that Ian is at his best when he’s with them and his worst when he’s not. They’re his support system, and he’s a key part of theirs. They look after each other and rely on one another when the chips are down. They’re all grown up now, Liam being the exception, but those bonds are strong. They’ve matured and branched out to include Mickey, Tami, Franny, and Freddie. Ian’s heart belongs to his family, and he’s given as much of himself as he can to the people he’s been with over the years in whatever capacity they’ve needed him to.

Ian has also always been a fearful character, though not in the manner we typically visualize. He’s strong and motivated, ambitious and sensible, clever and insightful. When he decides that he wants something, he goes for it, from a South Side thug hovering in his orbit to pursuing the highest military accolades despite his small beginnings. Over and over again, we’ve seen him leap into serious and often strange situations in order to achieve his ends or something for the people he cares about. This man stole a water heater from a dead person’s house with his brother and tried to help his best friend hide a body. Certainly, he doesn’t fit the traditional stereotype. He’s not a coward.

But Ian is terrified—of everything:

·        Not amounting to anything

·        Not being worthy of love

·        Being the center of attention

·        Fading into the background and being forgotten

·        Not being able to help other people or those he loves

·        Not having a path

·        Not being in control of himself

·        Not being enough

He’s never said it. He’s never discussed these issues, except perhaps not having control. That isn’t who he is. That’s never been his way. Maybe we should add fear of communicating too, or fear of being seen as weak.

In s1, Ian makes a lot of brave choices. He comes out to three people, two of them family members, knowing how that is viewed in their neighborhood. When Mickey is after him, Ian takes the battle to his doorstep. He turns his back on an arguably easier life in a nice, middle-class neighborhood and a home with a father who would provide for him to live in the constant struggle to which he has grown accustomed. On the surface, he’s one put together kid. But then there’s Kash. There’s this man who preys on him, a middle child so responsible (and so male) that no one thinks he’d fall into any sort of trap—and Ian is desperate to keep him. He fights Lip over it and so painfully tries to make him understand his perspective, that he’s spending money he should probably be using for things he needs to buy Kash music and baseball tickets, to make him like what Ian does so that they can build their so-called relationship. That Kash is married with kids is unimportant to him; that he’s exploiting Ian’s fear of loneliness and not finding love outside his siblings, unthinkable. We know it. Lip sees it, powerless as he feels to do anything about it. Ian can’t. To date, he never will. He’s blinded by a culture that doesn’t believe such things can happen to males, and until Mickey comes along as a viable outlet for his affections and source of the ones he needs, he’s too afraid to be cautious.

Throughout s2 and s3, Ian makes difficult decisions. They’re not always smart, but it takes great strength to commit to the choices he makes: allowing Monica into his life, voicing even an ounce of his feelings to Mickey, pursuing West Point, and running away. All of them, however, are driven by love and fear alike. He’s vulnerable and needs his mother, the one who slaps Frank for shoving him and listens when he feels alone. She assuages his fears by telling him what he needs to hear: that he can do and be anything. We know there’s a danger in that, especially when she takes him to enlist when he’s nowhere near old enough, but it’s still validating for him. It feeds that need for attention but not too much attention, for understanding but not coddling, for love that originates from someone who isn’t his siblings. We see similar trends emerge: fear of losing Mickey on multiple occasions, fear that he’ll forever be in Lip’s shadow when he receives a letter of recommendation instead of Ian, and fear of never having Mickey’s full affections spiraling into fear of facing his own emotions in the aftermath of the wedding. We’ve seen that Ian runs from what he can’t process. He runs from what he can’t handle. He runs when he’s scared, especially of himself.

It continues repeatedly throughout the series. In s4, Ian is afraid of going backwards and once again losing his position in Mickey’s life. In s5, he’s afraid of being a burden on everyone around him, changing them, and losing control of his own mind. In s6, he’s afraid that this is it: his path and his goals have come to nothing, and he’s doomed to fall into the shadows where no one will ever see or love him. In s7, that fear of himself re-emerges when a patient is hurt on his watch and he has to come to terms with the fact that being better doesn’t mean he’s “cured.” In s8, he’s afraid of the void where Monica and Mickey used to be, and it sends him spiraling into a deeper one he doesn’t fear until it’s too late. In s9, he fears a lack of guidance, an indecisiveness born of having been able to rely on his hallucinations to tell him what to do. His path is gone, and he has no options. And that’s terrifying. Then Mickey is there, and he can put some of his fears to rest until they resurge with the idea of marriage in s10. All of a sudden, he’s back where he was in s5, fearing himself but also what he’ll do to someone he loves.

In s11, we’re seeing an Ian far more like he was in earlier seasons: rigidly devoted to having a plan, knowing what’s coming next, and ticking off certain boxes on the list of things you’re “supposed to do” as a married adult male. He’s spent a lot of this season seeking value in his employment and position in their marriage, and the stress has been dragging him down—quickly.

And it’s no wonder: he has every reason to be scared right now.

The thing about prison is that it is what’s known as a total institution. It is removed from society and, as such, operates under its own social beliefs, values, and norms. Like the military, another total institution, prison involves an initial period of sloughing off roles and identities from the greater society and subsequently being resocialized into a new role set. Upon release, a person undergoes the same process in reverse, and there’s an adjustment period to reintegrate into normal society. We can see that process begin when Ian gets in the car with Lip and shudders a bit, unsettled at the prospect of being outside these walls for the first time in months—going home far earlier than anticipated. For many people, it’s a difficult transformation, especially once they realize the full extent of how your life changes as an ex-convict in the U.S.

Ian doesn’t really get to adjust. From s8 to the start of s11, he undergoes a whirlwind of emotion and change. He literally loses touch with reality, starts a cult, commits a felony, is on the run from law enforcement, allows himself to be captured with one final display, goes to jail, remains unmedicated until he’s bailed out, panics at what his movement became, feels alone in the house as everyone deals with their own business and leaves him to his own devices, seeks guidance from above only to realize it wasn’t what he thought it was, can’t find answers, has warring factions telling him how to plead in court, ostensibly takes a plea deal that requires some amount of time behind bars, goes to prison, finds the love of his life there waiting for him, has to let his sister go, is released without Mickey, gets repeatedly screwed over by a corrupt PO, gets engaged, breaks up (sort of), gets engaged again, sees his wedding venue burned down, gets married, and hurtles straight into a pandemic. That’s… That’s a lot. Being a newlywed in a pandemic is a lot without all the rest of it, but this is what Ian is dealing with going into s11, and he hasn’t had the benefit of a stable readjustment and reintegration period.

He’s drowning.

He’s scared.

He has every reason to be. Marriage is scary, especially if you are so young and so in love with the person you’re marrying. Employment is scary, especially for them, because it could mean the difference between paying the utilities and running out of water. Change in general is scary, especially when it hasn’t done you any favors before.

Add all that to what Ian’s behavior has indicated that he’s been afraid of since the start, and you have a recipe for disaster.

To a great extent, that’s what I think his arc is all about this season: learning how to live again. It’s about not being so afraid of himself that he desperately grasps for any stereotypical structure for married life that he can. It’s about regaining the confidence that has always left him clawing his way to the top instead of letting life beat him down. It’s about finding the happy medium where he and Mickey aren’t doing anything illegal but aren’t stuck in a valueless spiral, scrambling and struggling to pay the bills like when they were kids.

It’s about learning not to be so afraid anymore, and I think that’s a beautiful goodbye for a beautiful character.

[evilwickedme]

Hey so this is kind of personal, but is there anything I can do for feeling guilty about setting my story in Israel? I’ve got others in america and even outer space that I’m fine, but the one I’m very passionate about takes place in Israel because the main cast is Jewish. I feel wrong releasing a story set there because I feel like I’m supporting Israel (the story is really basically a super hero romance story,so it’s not like the politics are ever brought up)your very fair about this so I’m ask

Okay so I’m answering this version because it’s the first one you sent, but here’s the version you sent when you thought the ask got eaten, which I will also address:

I don't remember if you got this or if was eaten up, but I asked about doubts I had about releasing a story of mine set in israel. The thingis I'm not scared go release the one set in america, or even outer space. But I feel like I'll get backlash for even setting a story in israel when it's kind of necessary since the cast is Jewish. I don't want to change the setting or the ethnicities, the story isn't even political it's a superhero romance. Im sorry if this isn't something you cant answer 

Right. So the first thing I want to tell you is there a big difference between being passionate about the idea of it being in Israel and it being necessary that it takes place in Israel. There are plenty of Jewish communities in the United States that you could have set a story in, and it is not necessary for a Jewish story to be told in Israel. That said, if you’re passionate about it - you think it adds to the story that it’s in Israel, or helps characterize the characters in a certain way - then you need to really think about why that is, and what value it adds to the story.

Because for someone who doesn’t live in Israel, Israel is never going to be a generic location. When I write a story in Hebrew and don’t place it in a specific town, it’s still happening in Israel, because that’s my lived experience and I know best how to make the location non-specific and yet feel Israeli nonetheless. When I work on a story set in the generic US, which I do pretty often for fanfiction and original fiction alike, I have to search for specificities that someone with experience living in the US doesn’t have. You simply know what the school system is like, or at least what your experience of the school system is. When you set a story in an office, you know what the dress code for an office in the US is, while I know what a dress code in an office in Israel is, and they’re not the same. So picking Israel for you is a choice, and that choice has consequences to do with how you write the story first and foremost.

So once you’ve chosen to set the story in Israel (through cost-benefit analysis, see first paragraph) and you’ve done at least some research as to what being a Jew living in Israel is like (second paragraph), you have to decide what Israel brings to the table politically. If you’re going to set the story in the merkaz (the center of Israel, where Tel Aviv is and the more progressive area in the country), it’s going to have political ramifications. If you set it in Jerusalem, it’s going to have political ramifications. If you, God forbid, set it across the green line in the West Bank (and I should clarify that’s at least partially sarcasm, cause I live with my parents in the West Bank), then that has serious political ramifications. Israel is highly contested, every bit of it considered “allowed” or “not allowed” by different people. Setting a story in Israel when it is not the default from your perspective is inherently political, because Israel, for the world at large, is inherently political.

I’m going to tell you a secret, though. It’s all political.

In the second semester of my first year of university, my intro to TV studies teacher asked the vegetarian and vegan students to raise their hands. He then asked them to keep their hands up if they thought it was a political decision. Almost everyone did. Once they put their hands down, he asked the meat-eaters to raise their hands. Once again, he asked the carnivores to keep their hands up if they thought it was political. Almost nobody did.

He told us we were wrong.

Eating meat is a political choice, the same as being vegetarian or vegan. The fact that it is considered the default (in my culture, at least) doesn’t make it not a political choice. We are choosing to go along with the mainstream politics, just as vegetarians choose to go against the mainstream politics.

I hope you get my point, but just to be clear: not setting a story about Jews in Israel is just as much of a political choice as setting a story about Jews elsewhere (the States being the most obvious, as it has the biggest Jewish population outside of Israel). There is nothing inherently wrong with setting a story anywhere, but it is always going to be political, no matter what you do.

And if you want to write a superhero romance set in Israel, go ahead. Be secure in the knowledge that it isn’t any more political than setting it in the States. And it certainly sounds like a lot of fun.

I hope this helps.

[kerblackthorn]

Unmasking the Master-Mistress of Magic

I am the prophet of the Mastriss, the seer in the Darkness. I sought a path: I looked to religion, to science, and to the innumerable paths within Paganism, Hinduism, the occult, and Wicca, but none could hold, none could contain fully my heart nor express the language of my soul. I pilgrimaged to India and Europe, became certified in yogic instruction, I took many plants hoping to finally rend the Veil and see the Truth. Intuitively, I always knew that Truth is One although our languages and cultures are many. Truth is absolute although our experiences are as countless as the stars. As variable in sound as the way each child develops their speech. We do not invalidate one another but expand our breadth and depth of knowledge for this beautiful wondrous Kosmos through one another.

I shall seek to express in such variable human skills the Truth of our existence. I shall try to explain how to experience this Truth, that anyone who reads my words would make connections and find their own words. That when you speak to the spirits, they would speak back and be heard. I want to do this because I love you, although I do not yet know you. All of this World is my kin, and so you who read my words are my brothers and sisters, my aunties and uncles. I was discouraged and deluded, full of doubt and fear, but when I found the footsteps of the Trickster in every culture, the fingerprints of that profoundly simple dual-natured Mastriss experientially everywhere I sought the reality of things, all of my burdens were shed. Now, I wander around with a head as empty as a child and eyes as open as a madman. I come and go from my body as a mouse from their hole.

Having drunk from the breasts of the Mighty Goat, I smile at the Wind, talk to the Tree-People, and sometimes cry when I pluck a Plant. All of my needs and desires are taken care of, and I have no fear of any future need or desire to go unmet. My spirit-mate walks beside me and I see Her smile and hear Her voice all throughout my days. One day, when the Dark Angel comes for me, that demon that once terrified me but whose mighty name I know now and call, I will go along hand-in-hand with a smile as friends on our merry way to those well-known Lands I often dream of.

If you would set out upon this path, you must make every effort to break open your mind. The mind will always doubt, always delude, and always unnecessarily entangle you. Therefore, go to war with the mind: empty it, destroy its barriers, and achieve madness for yourself. The boons of Dionysus and the panic of Pan are your friends on this path, and the comforts of Aphrodite are your secure fixing point. Make Venusian love your great guiding principle and no evil will overtake your soul. As this war of the mind is undertaken, you must work to change your mind to its very core when it comes to 3 human beliefs whose presence is the greatest reason that unnatural religions continue to prevail in this world and the body clings so tightly to the soul that people have forgotten how to dream and how to sojourn out of the bonds of the daily self.

The first is the basically gnostic worldview which has been so ingrained through it's Christianization and the subsequent spread of Christianity. Gnosticism teaches us that the world is spiritual over physical, mind over matter, principles over practice… this is the first great trick which the Mastriss uses to test us. You must see past this preoccupation with compartmentalizing. Break open the dam of your spirit and let it flow out over your life! Embrace the truth of animism. Until science began to overtake religion in the 19th century it is clear from the journals of clergymen that even the Christian Church embraced this worldview until it had been supplanted by a science which was entirely incomplete, which could not comprehend the things which modern minds have found: the truths of quantum physics, the language of trees and water, and the true nature of consciousness were all matters of religion then, and when microscopes did not reveal these miniature worlds, the old world dismissed all the majesty of mystical religion. The reality is that mysticism was and always will be far ahead of science. Embrace animism, return to the primal.

The second trick we must overcome from the Mastriss is that of nature's triumph over nurture. We have fought with nature for so long, becoming, as anthropologists assert, cooked and "overdone". But now an eldritch call is going out in this last age of humankind, a voice that tells us we must return to the primal, the primitive, the raw, or else we will perish. This latest viral threat is just a taste of what the spirits will unleash unless we can succeed. A true religion must therefore be primal, entirely banded to the natural world and the survival of the Earth. A religion which neglects the eternal nature of the Earth as the World Tree itself, containing the 3 worlds within Her, will bring about an organic age of peace, balance, and harmony without needing laws and courts and tariffs and the imbalanced malarkey of the patriarchy to succeed. Earth-centric spirituality is fundamental.

The third and final trick we must overcome is the myth of humanity's separateness. Now, this is rough ground to till due to the preoccupation people have today with avoiding something called "cultural appropriation". And in one aspect, this preoccupation is something very positive: syncretism can quickly turn into a cycle of devouring, digesting, and regurgitation which leaves people with something so different and new that the original culture is lost. However, there is also a deeply ingrained principle in us all that Truth is absolute, even if it is not capable of being explained in absolutes. No one would seek out religion and pour over books and demand experiences if they were not wanting to know the true nature of existence and the laws and spirits behind the Kosmos. That doesn't mean that the language and system they learn is absolute, but that they are experiencing the reality of things. It's like meeting a person for the first time with your best friend: you both may discuss the same event and make up entirely different judgments about this newcomer.

Syncretism is, however, very helpful, as the process of seeking synchronicity with spirits and experiences and books allows one to develop a system of fact checking oneself and developing a road map toward broader horizons through knowledge one has not yet experienced. When viewed through the lens of animism, this process becomes even simpler. There is a strong chance that when viewed through the lens of animism some of the spirits that seem related from other cultures are, at times, angels of the primary deity who dwells within the same natural phenomenon. Angels are simply messengers, reflections of the spirit-gods they serve… the 7 primary Olympic Spirits who correspond to the 7 planets have hosts of angels that serve below them. Every one of the 72 Elohim encountered by Solomon has so-called "legions" of angels below them. I use angel here in the older and proper Grecian context which accords the etymology of the word.

I fall back on Helleno-Roman texts and worship a lot, alongside grimoire texts. I do this simply because it is so well preserved and so well ingrained in the Western corpus. Moreover, the “Papyri Graecae Magicae” and the “Orphic Hymns”, two veritable treasure troves of mystical wisdom handed down to us, veritable scripture for me, are culturally Hellenic. Jesus' draws on beliefs around Ouranon, Olympus, and Hades constantly in his teachings, teachings which most of us are somewhat familiar with. And the names of the Gods of All are contained in the PGM and Orpheus’ songs; that said, most of us have 4 seasons, so relying solely on Hellenic Reconstructionism does not necessarily make sense. It is absolutely divine that such a culture rooted in animism survived for us today, and it is so easy to understand their recordings due to the omnipresence of the Christian Church in the West, but not all of the personality of the True Religion has been contained therein. Moreover, celebrating the overlap and gaps filled in by other cultural beliefs is a beautiful treat: something the Orphics did to a lesser degree and the mageia of Alexandria did at length, and so is true even to the spirit of these origins.

Furthermore, relying solely on the ancient Hellenic religion does not make sense for a witch because Hellenismos was not predicated on the survival of witchcraft, seeking to outlaw and destroy it really, and the philosophy behind ancient Greek religion revolved around the worship of the 12 Olympians. The True Gods, the Old Gods, had been displaced and locked away to greater and lesser degress. Hecate, Hades, Persephone, Cybele, Helios, Selene, even Eros and Pan were mostly propitiated out of dire necessity. The mageia of Alexandria remembered Their true names, however, as well as the worship appropriate to Them and Their existence at the Root of All Things. In Rome, the peasantry are recorded handing down the story of Diana and Lucifer (the latter of whom is Eosporos before Roman naming came into effect) in “Aradia: the Gospel of the Witches”. This should be a sacred text for any true witch for in it we have the story of how the True Gods came and how They mean to come back, as well as Their natures and the relationship witches are invited to have with Them.

How then do we bring back the Old Gods as They choose, no longer boxing Them or packaging Them, but rather letting Them rule with Their own personalities? Quite vehemently, magic on the level of the miraculous, brothers and sisters. The story of Aradia is the story of how, when one has been granted a boon by Hecate-Diana, you should tell everyone how great She is and tell others how to pray to Her for their own benefit. Same as the story of how Isis won the secret name of Ra… you don't need to attack people with your faith as the Christians do, but to tell everyone how great your life has become as a result of Hecate, Eosporos, and Hades work in your life. If you are wont to, call Them Morrigan, Dagda, and Cernunnos, or Freya, Odin, and Thor. As long as the secret names from the PGM and the grimoires are intact and you know that you are talking to the God of Death, the Goddess of Fate, and the Mastriss of Storms you'll get far.

And on that note, I'd like to share some of the miracles I've seen Them work for me and those I love through me. 5 years ago, when I went to look for a home, I couldn't even qualify for a measly $450k loan, barely scraping up to the $300k level. In my home state, this means all I could afford were places that had been destroyed by the previous tenets, and the only bank loan I could qualify for required the home to be perfect… I had two kids and was very afraid what this meant for my future. I now have a $450k rental and I live in a $1.5M home in the woods. I let the Mastriss take the wheel of my life: I started working a little harder and accepting job offers and life offers that came in, and the Mastriss took care of me. This gave me the time and freedom to actually start pursuing my true passion, which is worshipping the Elder Gods, preaching and writing about Them, and practicing the Craft of the Witches.

When my middle son was very little, 1 year old, his older sister accidentally slammed his thumb in the door at a hotel in Disneyworld Orlando. It was a heavy, metal door and his little thumb was as flat as a pancake and oozing blood. I asked the Mastriss to heal him as we drove to the ER, using an old Germanic charm I have picked up. By the time we arrived, he was asleep. By the time we checked in, the thumb had stopped bleeding. By the time we got seen, it looked normal and he was already using it. They laughed at the resiliency of children, but a doctor visiting Disney had already seen the thumb and said that the bones looked smashed to pieces from the door, which had closed shut without any space in the frame at all. I had found him trying to yank his little thumb free from the steel frame, and it was not budging. And yet, 2 hours later, here was his thumb looking and feeling as well as ever. It didn't even swell up.

I have lived in the woods for more than half my life, and when I was young, I saw the Mastriss standing at the edge of the woods in the moonlight. The creature-form was mesmerizing and terrifying, with the haunches and mouth of a goat but the torso of a breasted humanoid. The Mastriss had piercing dark eyes that saw into my soul and the moonlight draped the Beast’s form like a cloak; my mother froze looking at the Beast beside me, standing at the woods edge. She was angry with me when the Beast left, saying that this was all my fault due to my "dabbling". Later, when my little sister and I were wandering in the same woods, I accidentally kicked a mountain lion who was sleeping in the underbrush. Startled, the lion roared and took off and then, to our terror, began running back at breakneck speed. When the lion was back within sight, I yelled, "I have seen the Master of these woods! I have seen the Master of all the woods! And not one evil can befall Them! Help me, Master Goat! Send Your angel!" And the lion stopped in its tracks, lowered its body, and slunk back gently into the grass.

If anything in your life is concerning you for any reason, no matter how big or small, try the Mastriss out. Put the Goat Angel to the test. Don't be afraid, because the Mastriss will appear to you as you need, and often appears as a little blue child to those who would fear Their Bestial Form, as to those Hindus who call Them little baby Krishna and those grimoires who call Them Lucifer or the King of the Fae respectively. In reality, the Mastriss is neither male nor female, but third-gendered. The One Who stands at the Gate to the Otherworld, Scirlin, Janus, Papa Legba: all masks that the Mastriss of Misrule wears, disguises and spirits that serve Them. Pray at the Threshold of your home, the edge of the Woods, on a Bridge, at the edge of the Ocean: "Mastriss of the Winds and Storms, Goat Angel Who tussles the tops of the trees, Adonai Sabaoth Who leads the Deathless Hosts through the windswept realm, I ask You to come into my life and order it how You see fit. Child and earthly consort of our Dark Mother, Brimo, let Your name be blessed by my tongue. Light up my life, Mastriss Lumiel, and let Your breast be my sweet succor. In the name of Your Chief Angel, Heliou Amene."

[ianworthy]

Israel vs Palestine

What is really happening? And the bloody solution…

First off, I'm from a small town on the other side of the planet so I don't have any kind of agenda.  If you want that B.S. there's lots of options.  I realized more than ever over the last year that we are being lied to and manipulated on the daily, which led me down many rabbit holes. I've been "re-educating" myself and started writing in an effort to make some sense of the craziness.

History made shorter…

We should start around when the Ottoman Empire ended for some context, which was in the early 1920s in case you slept through History.  If you rely on the ‘news’ you'd think this started a couple of weeks ago.  Reality, if you go back far enough no one "owned" anyone, nor the land they occupied or any of the land you’re on right now. Humanity and its entire existence has involved one tribe/country trying to annihilate the other.   It never works out, but here we are 200000 years later, give or take 194000 years, depending on whether your belief in Science transcends beyond vaccines and masks.  In case you didn't catch that I’m referring to the 6000 year timeline outlined in the Bible.  Breaking this down to the core revolves around religion used to create unnecessary animosity, so a relatively small proportion of a population can benefit.  Isn't that every war ever?

After the Ottoman collapse, the land that's in dispute aka Israel and Palestine was given to the British.  Interesting fact, if you look at all the atrocities and wars currently going on in the world, they are all countries that were "occupied" some way or another by the British or to a lesser extent, the French.  Aren't we all curious for Harry's hot take on how he's the product of ruthless colonization of his great grandparents that its impact on global society is ever present? These former colonies are humanitarian disasters enslaved by whichever military coup at the time provides corporations with the most resources.  But hey, as long as the Old B of England got the right biscuits to accompany her afternoon Tea that's all that matters, right?        

When the British, or most powerful Army at the time called the shots, there was a movement referred to as Zionism that began to gain support from the Jewish people throughout Europe.  Zionism basically means the nationalist movement to create a state for the Jews, not the jam by Damien Marley, which is my first exposure to the word Zion.  I'm sure this rise was foreshadowing of what was to come.  Not to get all conspiracy theory on you but none other than the Rothschilds (wealthiest family in history that created the global money supply that are apparently no longer wealthy) created a proposal that involved divvying up the land for a state in the future, which was after the war.  Google the ‘Balfour Declaration’ if you don't believe me.  From that point the amount of land occupied by the Palestinians has steadily decreased, according to the last map I checked it was looking pretty bleak.  The land was divided not because they are physiologically different but because one group of parents parents parents were raised to believe in Abraham and the other a linkage to Abraham.

Up to the current point… 

I'm sure that Jared Kusher's involvement in recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the Trump peace plan of supplying the middle east with more missiles played a supporting role, but more current, Ramadan.  The Israelis like all of the World Leaders during the last year have been flexing too much during the lockdowns of COVID, which carried over to yet another Ramadan and evicted some families for further settlements.  In addition to the evictions the Israelis broke up a Mosque gathering on Eid, Antifa style.  Eid for Muslims is like Christmas for Christians, but instead of getting toys and gifts from Jesus swap, Santa Claus, you get to eat during daylight after a month of starving yourself.  This Mosque is Islam's third holiest site, conveniently Jerusalem is Judaism and Christianity holiest site as well, coincidence?  To relate, for Christians, if Jerusalem is the holiest, and the Vatican is the Second then probably a Church like Notre Dame would be third, or up there at least.  I feel that the MSM coverage of the Notre Dame burning was little different than the burning of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

In retaliation to the Israeli raids, Hamas, the awful military leadership of Palestine launched missiles that had no real threat of reaching their target, being shot down half way by the Rafael Advanced Defense System (Iron Dome) that the US taxpayer supplied batteries for under Obama.  In response to a “potential” desert storm attack from Palestine a bunch of USA made Lockheed Martin F-16s equipped with M61 Vulcans and Raytheon AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missiles launched an Airstrike killing a bunch of innocent civilians, including kids.  According to the death toll I just looked at, it was 241 dead Palestinians, including 5 top Hamas commanders, the media and a bunch of kids to 12 Israelis, no executives, consultants, shareholders or politicians were killed.               

The Solution Is…

Two solid states, and no longer decreasing the amount of land occupied by the Palestinians and increasing of Jewish settlements.  Palestinians and Jews both have the right to a home.  With the help of the greedy boomers (worst leadership class in history) and the media making the next couple of generations hate each other, the rift is super deep.  Every war is sustained by the industrial military complex.  Lockheed Martin Raptors or Raytheon Heat Seeking Missiles do not magically appear in the Israeli Air Force.  The corporations that run the United States are in the business of making money at all costs, in this case innocent lives mostly Palestinians.  Humans need to stop providing the means to commit such acts of horror.     

It also seems pretty convenient that Benjamin Netanyahu was recently unable to form a new government and is facing criminal corruption charges.  Party leaders are always guilty of something, it’s just a matter of if they follow the most profitable line or not.  He's obviously not the right person to run Israel, taking it in the extreme right position that’s trendy right now in politics.  Extreme either way is no solution to anything, and the sooner Netanyahu goes the better.  His father was an Ivy League Professor active in the Zionist movement, who's father was also a Zionists.  Point here is people that grow up entitled with an unwavering ideology and no life experience make for horrible leaders.  That applies to a lot of world "leaders", even the countries that don't have nonsensical inbred Royals in charge.  Any peaceful long-term resolution involves leadership that recognizes that Jews and Palestinians have a right to a home.  There also needs to be more fair coverage.  I guess it doesn't help that the people running Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Lionsgate, Universal, NBC, The New York Times, The Tribune, Discovery, CNN, Google and Facebook are all Jewish.  In Palestine, the Israeli Air Force blew up one of the main media buildings that housed Al Jazeera News and the Associated Press.  No press or opinion vs all the colluding press and opinions. 

As for Hamas, or any of these military coups that emerge are the result of instability and no leadership for its people, present more of a challenge.  Israel can and hopefully soon, will function just fine with new leadership.  My entire adult life, the Industrial Military Complex has been at war with the Middle East.  The defense contractors that have been defending America from an “evasion” always seem to find some action. It's purely about Oil(Money) and strategic power, but we can leave that for another time. From the West perspective Hamas is a terrorist organization, which they are, but if you're living in Palestine having dinner with your family and a Raytheon heat seeker comes through the window and blows up your family into pieces. Wouldn’t that be a terrorist act? In order to have any kind of sustainable solutions the counties and corporations that pillage these places killing innocent people need to find a way to structure these de facto coups into a legit military that can serve as a National Army. At the end of the day these kids are just fighting for what they think or are forced to think is right. Given the option, and right identity, kids can redirect their frustration and hatred towards a national unity that respects and values its citizens. Not that I have much faith in non-secular rule, but I think as a starting point a country that can be run more or less by its people is better than this apartheid situation that’s going on now.

The ceasefire has been called, which is the necessary short-term solution, however not going to change much going forward.  This game is being played with a zero-sum, and I think that they were premeditated targets that were going to be fired at some point in the future regardless of what the spark was. My position at the end of the day is that a handful of countries produce all the weapons used to blow everyone up, so it should start at the source and those who benefit the most.  Which obviously isn't the everyday people of Palestine or Israel. The upside, with the media fighting for relevance the corporate narrative is being challenged.  We just haven't figured out the right way. I have some thoughts, subscribe or follow please.

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Wechat Pay Online

China is a mystery in many ways, culturally as well as economically. Setting up mobile payments in China is one of the largest obstacles foreign companies encounter when entering China’s online market. If you’re planning to enter the Chinese market, we want to offer you advice on selecting the best payment gateway.

We also have an article with general recommendations on launching an app in China, if you’re interested in a broader view.

WeChat Pay is a Chinese payment system that allows online casinos to process payments from account holders in this country. Originally founded as a WhatsApp-style communication system, WeChat Pay has quickly evolved into a popular method for businesses to receive payments from this part of the world.

WeChat Pay is a smart and efficient way to send money to users of the WeChat global platform. WeChat Pay is also a popular method of payment for buying and selling bitcoin instantly and securely. There are two person-to-person marketplaces that accept WeChat Pay as a payment method.

Select your preferred payment method. If you have a sufficient balance in your WeChat Wallet, then this will automatically be selected as the payment option for your transfer. If you want to change the payment method used: Tap the button next to the field displaying the name of the payment method chosen by WeChat.

WeChat is an instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app widely used in China. App users who have bank accounts in China can link their accounts to their profiles, so they can make online and in-store payments with WeChat Pay.

Which online payment methods to accept in China? In China the top payment methods are Alipay and WeChat Pay. These payment options should be kept in mind if you want to have an online and mobile presence in China. These mobile first payment methods are accompanied by Union Pay, the popular Chinese card brand.

Content:

Why expand into China?

China’s e-commerce market has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime in the foreseeable future. As of the beginning of 2019, more than 54% of Chinese shoppers were using third-party payment services; the other 46% were divided almost equally between debit/credit cards and cash payments.

China has almost 650 million online shoppers. According to Statista, this number is expected to reach 1 billion by 2023. Unsurprisingly, many overseas companies would love to take advantage of that. But one of the stumbling blocks on this path is Chinese mobile payment systems.

What’s wrong with PayPal? you might ask.

Well, Chinese consumers don’t really like payment gateways like PayPal that we’re used to in the West. It’s not that people don’t use them at all (they do); it’s just that they mostly prefer local payment methods, many of which not only accept online payments but work offline with QR codes. There are a number of Chinese payment gateways you can implement, and if you want to be successful in the Chinese market, you need to choose the right one.

Wechat Pay Ban

We’ve already covered the three most popular payment systems in the world in our article comparing Stripe, PayPal, and Braintree. Now let’s narrow our focus to one of the world’s largest markets and look at what there is to choose from. Here’s our guide to integrating Chinese payment gateways.

Chinese payment system integrations for foreign companies

In China, payment services are numerous and varied, which can make things a bit confusing for companies new to the Chinese mobile payment market. However, upon closer inspection, you’ll find that not all of them are equally popular, and few are friendly to foreign companies entering the Chinese market.

You’re in luck, though. The top three payment gateways in China are also those that work best with foreign companies. And as we’ve done our share of research into China’s e-market for the UNIGHT app, we know quite a bit about them. Let us share our expertise.

The three most popular online payment systems in China are:

Alipay

WeChat Pay (official name TenPay)

China UnionPay (CUP, or just UnionPay)

Before we start, here’s our very first piece of advice: In a totally perfect scenario, we’d recommend integrating all three of these systems. This way, you’ll cover 100% of shoppers, or very close to it. But that’s a general recommendation sprouting from the fact that Alipay, WeChat Pay, and UnionPay all have similar offerings and only partially share the same audiences.

However, at the same time, these three companies have their differences. And those differences may sway you toward one or two of them, not all three. For example, in UNIGHT, we integrated Alipay and WeChat Pay but not UnionPay.

How do they differ and how can you choose the one that best suits your business? Let’s find out.

WeChat Pay

WeChat Pay is the youngest of China’s top mobile payment apps, and it’s also the one with the most registered users. The reason for the latter is quite simple — almost everyone in China uses the WeChat messenger, which is more than just a messenger. WeChat is a whole ecosystem: a messenger, a social network, games. A growing number of companies are also taking advantage of another feature of this platform by building WeChat Mini Programs to venture into e-commerce.

Basically, the top reason for businesses entering the Chinese market to integrate WeChat Pay is its huge user base: every WeChat user, of which there’s soon to be a billion, has access to WeChat Pay by default, as it comes with the WeChat app. The only thing a user needs to do is connect a bank account to use the service.

As it’s a part of WeChat, WeChat Pay supports all devices that work with WeChat. That’s almost 90% of mobile devices used by Chinese consumers. On the other hand, integrating WeChat Pay into a website is tricky, since the system was created with mobile devices in mind. If you’re aiming at website payments, you might be better off with either Alipay or UnionPay.

For users, WeChat Pay is largely fee-free. Fees are thrust upon them only for withdrawals over RMBY 10,000 (about $153), but even that fee is small compared to the fees banks take — only 0.1%. This is a huge incentive for Chinese consumers to use WeChat Pay and not credit cards, for example.

At the same time, the fee taken from merchants is also very low — compared to fees set by international banks for credit and debit cards, WeChat and Alipay cost about 40% less. WeChat’s merchant fee is 0.6%. Add strong security complete with encryption and a vast selection of possibilities for marketing, and WeChat is a clear choice for many overseas vendors.

Alipay

When it comes to online commerce in China, Alipay is usually the first payment gateway that comes to mind, mostly because it was a pioneer in this field, emerging roughly at the same time as Chinese e-commerce itself. While WeChat has the largest pool of potential shoppers by virtue of its social platform and messenger, it is yet to reach Alipay’s number of actual paying customers. Right now, Alipay is still the most popular online payment system in China.

Like WeChat Pay, Alipay only charges for withdrawals, though, with Alipay, the amount allowed without a fee is much higher — RMBY 20,000, or approximately $2,900. The fee for merchants is similar to that of WeChat Pay at 0.55%.

Basically, if you pin Alipay and WeChat Pay side by side, you’ll see these two systems have quite a number of similarities: they both offer online and offline payment options as well payment for bills and utilities; they both charge fees to customers only for withdrawals; they have similar fees for merchants, etc.

And that’s the reason we recommend integrating at least these two systems — if not all three. Together, Alipay and WeChat Pay cover approximately 90% of all online shoppers in China. Granted, a large part of the user base overlaps, as many Chinese consumers use both of these payment gateways. But it’s still 90% of shoppers if you go for both systems.

Alipay supports all mobile devices and computer browsers (even those not supported by WeChat) and deals with more currencies (18 to WeChat Pay’s 9). As we mentioned, Alipay is still the leader in the number of paying users. At the same time, it can’t compete with WeChat when it comes to marketing on the platform, so there’s that.

The final difference between Alipay and WeChat Pay is that Alipay is an internet escrow service, meaning it keeps the money a buyer pays until the transaction is completed according to the agreement. If you’ve ever made a purchase from AliExpress, you might know that it follows the shipment and asks you to confirm delivery. When you tap that confirmation button, it’s the service’s cue to drop the money to the seller. Until that moment, the payment is held by Alipay.

This feature is important, as it helps establish trust between buyers and sellers: buyers can be certain their money will be returned to them if the product isn’t delivered or is faulty, and sellers know for sure that their money was paid in full and will be transferred to them when the product is delivered or the service is provided.

China UnionPay

UnionPay was originally a credit/debit card provider, unlike Alipay and WeChat Pay, which were both established primarily for online transactions and e-commerce. China UnionPay is a new player in the online payment market, but it has a distinct advantage compared to smaller companies. As the third-largest credit/debit card provider in the world (after Visa and Mastercard), it has an extensive base of long-time clients. CUP works with 165 participating banks and issues over 5 billion cards a year. Essentially, everyone in China who has a bank account is a UnionPay customer.

UnionPay works with all mobile devices and computer browsers, which makes it a little bit more accessible than WeChat Pay, though not by much. But the biggest benefit of CUP is not that, of course.

Why My Wechat Doesn't Have Wechat Pay

China UnionPay supports almost all currencies and operates in many countries besides China — something both Alipay and WeChat Pay are struggling with due to the particularities of Chinese legislation. CUP should be among your chosen China payment gateways if you’re targeting not only people living in China but those traveling outside China.

Originally, UnionPay required a physical card to complete transactions both offline and online. This was the biggest issue with China UnionPay: physical cards with magnetic strips are way less secure than payment options created for online use right from the start, like QR codes. To not be left behind, UnionPay built a mobile application of its own in 2017 and ventured into QR code payments, pitching against Alipay and WeChat Pay. Gaining market share is a struggle, though, since UnionPay’s customers who are paying for products and services online overlap majorly with users of Alipay and WeChat Pay. And with both competing services having more experience and focusing on e-commerce, UnionPay falls short.

Another thing to consider if you’re thinking about integrating UnionPay is that it’s still a credit/debit card provider first and foremost. Because of this, its fees are higher than either Alipay or WeChat Pay — 0.8% for merchants (0.7% for banks and 0.1% for UnionPay itself).

If you’re interested, you can read more about mobile app development costs in our article: how much does it cost to create an app.

Alipay vs WeChat Pay vs UnionPay

Here’s a summary of everything we’ve highlighted above.

WeChat PayAlipayChina UnionPay (QuickPass app)

Number of users

800 million1000 million (320 million daily active users)160 million (18 million DAU)

Share of China’s mobile payment market

38.9%53.8%n/a

Market penetration rate

84.3%62.6%11.6%

Number of supported currencies

1327Almost all

Fees

Users: 0.1% for withdrawals over RMBY 1,000

Merchants: 0.6%

Users: 0.1% for withdrawals over RMBY 20,000

Merchants: 0.55%

Users: bank fees

Merchants: 0.8%

Supported devices

Devices that support WeChatAll phones, tablets, and PCsAll phones, tablets, and PCs

Challenges when developing a mobile app for China

There are several peculiar issues that arise before foreigners attempting to breach into the Chinese online market. Among them, a special place belongs to the documentation: Chinese payment systems used to only have documentation in Chinese. This includes rules and regulations and all the manuals on using the system, managing your wallet and money held in it, etc.

So if you’re planning China website payment gateway integration, you might need to hire a translator. Or you can always use Google Translate, of course; it won’t be an easy ride but it’s manageable.

The second and much more important issue is the competition between Alipay and WeChat Pay. We’ve already mentioned that the two payment systems cover over 90% of the Chinese online shoppers. However, due to being fierce rivals, these two systems fordid direct transferring between them. Meaning that you can’t transfer funds from your WeChat wallet to the Alipay wallet. There are two possible solutions for that:

You could manage separate wallets. This can be time-consuming but it’s a slightly cheaper solution.

You could use a special service, like Ping++, that, for a fee, acts as an intermediary, pulling payments from both systems into a single wallet for you to manage. This way, you avoid the mess of separate wallets and save time to manage other business matters.

Could be also interesting for you: How to outsource app development.

Integrating Chinese payment gateways: Conclusion

Besides the three payment gateways we’ve covered, there are also other similar services. However, their share of mobile payments in 2019 is very small, to the point that they’re worth integrating only as secondary systems or for very specific industries and/or target audiences. Right now, it’s WeChat vs Alipay, with CUP trying to win more users among their existing cardholders.

Our recommendation for startups and established companies venturing into the Chinese online market is to consider WeChat Pay and Alipay their primary choices unless thorough research into a particular niche suggests otherwise.

Wechat Pay Online

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[thingsifindinthedark]

Some thoughts about: Anger, Illness and Imagination

Good morning

It’s 11:30 am in Los Angeles and the sky is finally looking blue again even though fires are still raging close by.

Living in the smoke reminded me of winters in West Virginia. When the sky was just a heavy gray blanket from November through April. It felt cruel at the time.

I never got used to that winter.

My moods are so connected to the weather and what I’m looking at outside.

California is the perfect place to live if you’re pretending to be happy all the time.

The weather always tells you you should be hiking, and laughing as you wash your face with some sort of foaming organic cleanser like you’re in a commercial.

Setting aside the horrific reality of the fires, purely for the sake of metaphor, there’s a poetry in being here in this moment.

Just as I learn to make room for anger, and embrace it, and leave the cult of fake positivity, things are going up in flames.

Something that therapy and illness has taught me, is how much freedom and power we have to make sense of certain things creatively in whatever way we want. It’s just hard to let ourselves do it, it feels almost indulgent. Or maybe silly. Or we feel it will take away from our ability to grasp harsh truths or do something about them. I think we need both versions.

The places where I have most desperately wanted certainty and facts but not been able to get them- those are the places where finding meaning with my imagination helps my life.

I remember being in 3rd grade, newly dealing with the reality of being in pain all the time. Something had changed in my stomach.

I was now late for school every single day, a trend that would continue, because of the mixed messages my gut sent me every morning that sent me in and out of the bathroom, or cause me so much paralyzing stress that I would try to talk my out of attending.

My 3rd grade teacher, tired of my lateness, but with good intentions, once told me to picture a cool liquid in a soothing color, to pick my favorite color - I chose turquoise, filling the inside of my stomach. Calming the pain.

I was annoyed. Imagining a color in my stomach was not going to fix me. I needed cold hard data. I needed medication or a replacement set of internal organs. Even if this COULD help, the moment I admitted using my imagination helped my symptoms? That would be the moment doctors took my pain even less seriously and dismissed me outright. Many had already because I was a young girl. If I weren’t a young white cis girl from an upper middle class family i guarantee the dismissal would have been even worse.

So I was defensive to my teacher. The same way I would be defensive for years when people told me to try xyz lifestyle choice or simple solution to address years of pain that had confused doctors.

The same way I would be insulted when I was told it was “just anxiety” by doctors. I was defensive, and I became avoidant of sharing about my life in order to not, inevitably, come off as defensive.

But there is a weird sort of privilege in my being sick this long, over various stages of life; childhood, adolescence, young adulthood. Don’t get me wrong, I would rather not be sick, but what I mean is, this isn’t my first rodeo.

Science may only just now be really starting to understand the microbiome and the conditions that plague it, but I have been here, waiting in the wings, doubled over but still trucking along, learning how to make sense of things where there is not enough information for them to literally make sense.

I’ve found I truly need both the antibiotics AND the stupid turquoise liquid mind exercise, the lab work and the therapy that looks to address my anxiety and traumas. The idea that it was one or the other, in my mind OR in my body has been a barrier to my coping skills for years.

I came by that “either or” idea organically. It’s the way we are taught to think and the way western medicine tends to view things, though that is improving. Trauma also makes it harder to grasp nuance instead of black and whiteness.

I couldn’t have gotten to this point without learning to recognizing the way my brain got organized in childhood: don’t get angry, always appear positive, put others first, men’s emotions and needs are generally more important than yours.

I have a lot of anger. I have anger at my illness too. About the symptoms. About being on a restricted diet (again) and taking all these supplements. About feeling like I have to do everything perfectly or my body will collapse for days.

It becomes so much more livable though, even by simply acknowledging that in writing; I am angry. I am still sitting here calmly on my red velvet pillow on the floor at my short Japanese tea table by the window, but I am also angry.

There is something in anger that is self-preserving. An acknowledgment that you deserve better than what you’re facing.

When I can trust myself to meet my anger, to neither stuff it down or express it in a way that is harmful to others or myself, I feel a new freedom. I don’t have to walk around ready to spring into a defense posture. Because I know how to regulate that emotion and I’ve made room for it to show up. Even though it is still uncomfortable.

When it can’t show up as itself, for me anger shows up as; looping anxiety or guilt, obsession over food and health that leads to tunnel vision, impulsive decisions, various other forms of self sabotage. Oh, and physical pain.

My therapist once told me it was “like my body rejects it, when I feel angry.”

It made sense to me perfectly in a way that is hard to explain, but that I’m sure someone out there reading this also feels and understands. I think a lot of our bodies, women in particular, reject anger. Or maybe reject some other emotion. Whatever you weren’t allowed to feel growing up. Whatever emotion was deemed too much, or was monopolized by a different family member in a toxic way.

But that pain, rage, sorrow- it has to go somewhere. We learn to point it at ourselves for the benefit of other people when we don’t know what else to do.

This is the last thing you probably want to think about if you have a chronic illness. Or even if you don’t, it is not stuff we as humans tend to embrace; trying to better regulate and sit with our least pleasant emotions.

But while you are waiting; while you’re waiting for your lab work to return or your doctor to call you back, while you’re waiting for your new anti depressants to kick in, while you’re waiting for the incessant busyness of your pre-Covid life to return, experiment with stopping yourself from going down whatever avenue it is that you go down when things are out of your control, the one that harms you. The one that is probably fueled by anxiety - constant googling? Obsessing over something small? apologizing constantly for reasons you don’t understand? The list goes on.

Instead, try to feel the physical sensations of emotion in your body. Are your physical pains saying anything to you?

Is there a totally unscientific but spiritual interpretation of what’s going on that can help you get through the day or the hour or the minute, WHILE you’re on the meds, or waiting for the next step?

Here’s mine:

Science: My body has been overwhelmed for years by bacterial overgrowth, pathogenic yeasts, mold spores, fungus, mycotoxins. As I have been wiping out these beasts, I’ve also had to build up my body’s detox pathways, my ability to take in, process and effectively get rid of what is harmful. I’ve had to get my immune system stronger, and build up my good bacteria so it will fight these monsters off and not let them take over again.

Creative connection: My biggest roadblock in relationships, of all kinds, and in my career, aside from being sick- has always been with boundaries. I used to never have them, and feel the need to say yes to everyone. When that burned me out, I was resentful. I’d built up a lot of resentment that wasn’t the fault of others. I let everything in and it built up and I had no methods of getting it out. So I am detoxing here too. I have gotten rid of so much of what doesn’t serve me. And my ability to notice and honor anger as a messenger and protective force will help keep the harm away, just as a healthy immune system and functional microbiome keeps the pathogens away.

That’s an oversimplification of both my illnesses and my point of view on it, but it helps me to find these ways that healing from (and just improving in dealing with) sickness mirror/compliment the other areas of my life. I used to push illness into it’s own separate corner of my brain as if it weren’t really a part of me.

It is. And I both accept that, AND feel certain that I won’t always feel the way I do now, and that I can keep getting better, or at least befriending these parts of me. I’m building a relationship with my illness. Weird as that sounds.

When something is awful and out of our control and makes us feel we lack agency, deciding your own interpretation of it can be a way to seize a little bit of a feeling of autonomy. I will wait for my doctor to tell me what to take next, but not to tell me how to feel.

[starlene]

A long, itemized, soul-searching list of complaints

...related to theatre in Finland, and my personal relationship to it.

This has been brewing in my mind for a while, and I have to write this out somewhere or I think I’ll start wailing in frustration. I’m putting it on Tumblr, because I feel like now is simply not the right time to start airing my complaints about the Finnish theatre scene in spaces that people from said scene actually visit. But I still have to try to get this out of my mind.

So.

Seeing how theatres have been closed for over four months now, I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on my own relationship to Finnish musical theatre. For the past decade, it’s been the thing I’ve been the most interested in – which is why it feels so saddening to me to see where the whole scene seems to be going.

You see, for a country with only 5,5 million inhabitants, and only 18 people per square kilometer, Finland has a ridiculously robust network of state-subsidized theatres. There are dozens of them, most big and mid-sized towns have one. So far, so good, right? But then, when you look into this a little bit deeper, and figure out how musicals fit into the equation...

Well, here’s how it looks like:

1) Musicals are widely regarded as the cash cows of Finnish theatre. Put on Fiddler on the Roof and you’re guaranteed to get butts in seats. The most popular theatrical productions in this country are almost always musicals.

2) In so-called intellectual circles, musicals are widely regarded as worthless drivel that should not benefit from any public funding.

3) During the past... dunno, five years or so, a handful of our biggest theatres have been getting into this ridiculous ours-is-bigger-than-yours type of competition with their musical productions. They buy the rights to some mediocre new musical that ran on Broadway for a year and a half, promote it as a huge Broadway success story that is finally being brought to Finland, and come up with some way to make it bigger or otherwise more special than any Finnish musical production before – be it the biggest ensemble, the flashiest special effects, the most famous composer visiting the premiere, the most accordions added to the original orchestration (added accordion has seriously been used as a selling point over here)... And the productions themselves tend to be these replica-ish-but-not-quite, professionally made but artistically bland and devoid-of-any-deeper-meaning spectacles.

4) The ticket prices for these big musical productions have shot through the roof. I’m talking about increases up to 80% in ten years – increases that simply cannot be explained away with the overall rate of inflation. I’m talking tickets to Finnish state-subsidized musicals costing the same as tickets to Finnish commercial musicals (well, granted, we only have one theatre that’s making big scale commercial productions – but it’s not a good look that their prices match the state-funded prices), tickets to Swedish commercial musicals costing less than tickets to Finnish state-funded ones.

5) Did I mention a big percentage of the funding for Finnish arts comes from our state-owned betting agency? In practice, that means a big chunk of the arts funding comes from the pockets of poor people addicted to gambling. Seriously. 50% of the profit the agency makes comes from the most active 5% of gamblers, and almost 25% of the profit comes from people that have a gambling addiction. There is also some evidence suggesting the agency has deliberately been placing the majority of their slot machines in poor neighbourhoods. There is talk about dismantling this whole thing, but it’s a really difficult issue, since no one really has a realistic idea for an alternative way of funding the arts.

...and the more I think about this nasty circle of things I’ve written about above, the worse it makes me feel.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m 100% for state-funded arts, and I 100% believe musical theatre is a form of art on par with any other. But the way the funding works right now, the way the biggest theatres keep increasing the prices and, thus, pricing everyone who’s not well-off out... It really makes me furious. My family has always been well-to-do, but I could not have had the experiences I’ve had earlier in my life if I was born ten years later. I would not have the money to see all the musicals I got to see as a teenager if I was a teenager now. (And then they wonder why young people don’t seem to be interested in theatre.)

Of course, I know that no one needs theatre to survive. It’s a good thing to have, but it’s not at a matter of life and death, far from it. And that’s another big thing I’ve been thinking about. This spring and summer, four months and counting without theatre, has shown me that personally, I truly do not need theatre to survive. If it’s not available, I’ll just do something else.

So now that certain theatre people have been giving these statements about the importance of the arts and making the audience trust going to the theatre again despite corona (which is... it’s such utter nonsense, it’s not in your hands if we get a second wave or not – if anything, reopening theatres makes it more likely we will – and if we do, nothing you do or say can make us “trust” going to the theatre since it will not be safe to do so and that’s that)... I just can’t help thinking, are you actually as essential to our society as you like to pretend you are? Are you actually offering a public, accessible service? (On top of all this, add the fun fact that only 50% of Finnish arts organizations that are required by law to have an equality plan actually have it, and you get a picture of how important being equal and accessible actually is for the arts in this country.)

And once you see this stuff, really see it, it’s really hard to unsee it and to go back advocating for Finnish musical theatre.

It’s like the big theatres are hearing the criticism that musicals should not be subsidized at all, and to debunk it, they do exactly what the critics have been saying they shouldn’t do. I do love a big musical production every now and then – but I super do not love getting one every single year in all the big theatres, if that means that prices will continue to rise, and that more and more people who don’t have a lot of money to spare can’t see musicals at all. I do love a Broadway musical every now and then – but I super do not love that in 99% of the cases, the people in charge don’t even consider the world of musicals that exists outside of Broadway. (I also hate the nonsense argument of pitting original Finnish musicals and Broadway musicals against each other, but that’s a rant for another day.)

And in the end, I feel like the Finnish theatre scene in general is out of touch with reality. We have things like climate change and inequality and whatnot going on in here, and for the most part, it seems like they do not even notice – or if they do, it’s an opportunity for them to look good, not to do good. Common enough in corporate world, sure, but for a field that prides itself for being so humane and essential to human survival... yeah.

Of course, I’ve been personally let down by certain aspects and people of the Finnish theatre world, which partially caused my burnout, which in turn has had some severe repercussions I keep battling with to this day. I’ll be the first to admit that this experience will probably always colour my views on Finnish theatre as a whole, and if everything had taken a different turn some years ago, I likely would not feel this bitter now.

But as it is, I’m going to live my life with the memory of that disappointment and the shadow of that burnout, and I don’t think they take away the validity of my criticism.

It just feels a bit rough. I’ve been trying to speak for Finnish musical theatre for a decade, I’ve cared about it deeply, and it’s given me plenty of happy memories too – so, to examine the whole system, and to end up with this deeply cynical outlook of it all... it’s a bit sad. I know losing interest in things you used to like can be related to depression and things like that – but what if this is not that, what if this is how I’d be feeling in any case?

It’s just a bit sad, I guess.

It’s not that there are no directors or actors whose work I’m interested in anymore, there certainly are, and there are exciting things coming up. It’s just... with everything I’ve mentioned above, and especially when you remember the ongoing pandemic, it doesn’t feel so important right now.

I actually feel a bit queasy thinking of going to theatre in the fall since it doesn’t feel 100% safe. I really need to think that through before I decide to go or not to go. I mean – I know the corona situation in Finland is looking very good right now, and maybe this is just the future we’ll be living in from now on, but at the same time, the chance of being the person who got sick because she went to see West Side Story or whatever... Yeah. Doesn’t sound too good, does it.

So yeah, just wanted to write all this out somewhere. I know the arts have been hit really hard because of corona, so I can’t really go around criticising them in public right now, even if they 100% deserve it – now is simply not the right time. But all this is making me feel so conflicted and confused, seeing how much of my own life has been and still is entwined with these things, and not knowing what to make of it all, not knowing how to reframe the place Finnish musical theatre has in my in my life and in my heart.

Thank you for reading. If you have any thoughts, I’d love to hear them.

[hellzyeahwebwielingessays]

Super Heroes are a HUMAN power fantasy Part 2

Super Heroes are a HUMAN power fantasy Part 1

Master Post

There were several points a bit more tangentially connected to my arguments in part 1. As a result I decided to leave them until now and hit them up in bullet points.

These are arguments against the superhero genre chiefly perpetuated by the tryhard trinity of Osvaldo Oyola , J. Lamb and Noah Berlatsky.

On the topic of the genre portraying ‘might making right’, the truth is this is part of the ancient inspirational aspect of these figures and can be found in stories like Rama and Sita, Rama of course ultimately never giving up his quest to be reunited with his lover. Which was not a Western influenced story.

Yes the genre involves ‘punching as conflict resolution’. I’m sorry, but that is part and parcel of the genre and the wish fulfilment/fantasy/narrative entertainment value of the stories. If you DON’T like that then frankly it’s like complaining that a romance story involves kissing.

It has been claimed that a black hero wouldn’t punch someone but again, the genre is entirely about people with powers using them to help people by preserving their life. And if they have no other choice but to K.O. a mugger who’s going to stab someone then a black person, or any decent person, would/should do it. But examining the meaning and repercussions of that realistically given the fact that they aren’t white in a white society is something that could benefit the genre.

A common critique of the genre is that crime happens sometimes because of a racist system, therefore fighting crime innately supports racism. Look, obviously we should remove institutionalised racism from the law. At the end of the day though if someone of any race is committing a crime which HURTS people they should be stopped, the reasons which drove them to that should be taken into consideration, but Spider-Man shouldn’t NOT stop a mugger because they’ve been driven to do that through desperation. There is often no time for that and without being able to talk to or trust strangers he or other heroes need to act in the moment.

Superhero fiction on one level is childish, but on a deeper level they’re representative of universal truths and desires which are often boiled down to fairy tales or simple stories. The above shitheads also claims that superhero fiction is written and consumed by children, when the truth is that in the last 20-30 years the opposite has been more true. THAT is partially why sales have been dwindling over the years.

Superman’s values are innate to the heroic and altruistic desires and ideals ALL humanity has expressed throughout its history. They are not inherently ‘white’

Apparently superheroes are white constructs because they reinforce the ‘status quo’. To quote the Atlantic article (see part 1) again:

“What status quo do superheroes reinforce? These heroes fight because everyone is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The only fascists here are the supervillains who disagree.”

Also Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were created specifically to change the status quo of the fictional worlds they were created in. At the same time the entire Marvel pantheon were about changing the status quo of the genre by introducing people who were flawed and different and more human than the DC heroes

Superheroes, despite the assertions by the above fuckwits have at times interrogated the justice system. But generally their lack of interrogation is I think for the same reason their science is so wonky. They don’t know better. They just boil it down to the simplest terms. Muggings and villain threats abound. Hero prevents those. They don’t know enough to tackle something much deeper than that. This ties into the fundamentally flawed aspect of most critiques wherein they are looking to superheroes as intellectual pieces of academic and critical study when...that’s not what they are...at all…

One of the above douchebags once said:

An African American Superman, with kinky, close-cropped black hair, thick, half-reddened lips, high cheekbones, and wide nostrils all bathed in dark Lindt chocolate, resists White supremacist logic, negates Black inferiority mythology, and threatens the established order. Superman’s disconcerting physicality, tempered by his omnipresent cheerfulness calmed and invited White comic readers to imagine themselves as gaudy Caucasian perfection, the Anglo-Saxon ideal. Static in panel, without speech bubbles or thought balloons, Superman Black warps the absurdly developed skeletal striated muscle and eternal hopefulness fans rejoice into a clear and present danger to the American experiment, an unholy figure derived from Tea Party paranoia, Barack Obama’s calculation and Terry Crews’ musculature. Public Enemy’s prescience abounds – were Superman Black introduced on the game-changing Action Comics’ cover, White America would have yet another reason to fear a Black planet.

This entirely depends upon who is doing the perceiving. To someone of a different mindset a Black Superman could be just that. The same thing Superman is except he happens to have black skin.

Also, the author needs to take a major chill pill, Jesus Christ.

Here is another quote from one of them:

Only in White male power fantasies can people blessed with skin privilege and bodies carved from living marble wield heat vision or super speed or unbreakable claws against indigent criminals from broken homes who lack high school educations.

This is again grossly incorrect because the idea of individuals having superhuman abilities and using them to fight criminals predates American society, and if one accepts figures like the Hydra to be stand-ins for threats to human life then the superhumans have been fighting what the criminals represent for eons before the advent of American society. The criminals they use their abilities against are rarely stated to lack education or come from broken homes, but yes okay let’s say that they are that.

Having super humans go up against them and defeat them isn’t a white male power fantasy because their abilities are used to subdue and NOT kill. Injure perhaps but in real life sometimes force is sadly necessary and if someone is robbing a bank or holding a gun to someone in an alley it is justified no matter what skin colour anyone involved in is, or what society you find yourself in, for the perpetrator to be stopped in order to safeguard life. Just because the perp resorted to what they did due to social ills beyond their control, that doesn’t justify their actions at that moment. Stealing someone’s money or trying to murder them is never ever going to be acceptable no matter if we live in a white society or not.

Only in White male power fantasies would women display abundant porcelain cleavage or don starry microskirts to fight crime.

Yeah um, preeeeeeetty sure that actually that’s more of a male SEXUAL fantasy and less than a WHITE male POWER fantasy. That was never the topic of conversation.

Shuttle diplomacy or natural resource husbandry rarely bring metal-faced technological sorcerers to heel in superhero comics; superheroes often save planet Earth through fantastic violence judiciously applied.

Yeah, that’s part of the narrative FANTASY element of the genre that is intended to be escapist. Condemning it for being otherwise is asinine.

More than this, guess what, there are people whom Dr. Doom is a metaphorical stand-in for. And an awful lot of them legitimately can’t be negotiated with. I am of the belief that in the REAL world we should negotiate and use force when there is no other choice and even then only use what is necessary. But the Dr. Dooms and Lex Luthors of the comic book world represent grander themes of evil and social ills, whilst at the same time existing to challenge the heroes physically and mentally. They represent the unmovable types of evil that legitimately can only be dealt with via physical means.

This was the type of circular logic I talked about before. It is looking at the villains as stand ins for EVERY type of situation and therefore the super hero’s use of violence as ‘problematic’, when in reality the superheroes’ use of violence isn’t problematic because it is justified by the extreme circumstances they find themselves in.

Because those situations don’t exist in real life...like in World War II...which was literally about people using force in the face of failed negotiation to halt the advance of fascism…

I submit that the superheroic reflex to subdue evil with violence directly descends from Thucydides and Alexander, from Richard the Lionheart and Dwight Eisenhower.

Yeah...except it isn’t. Again...it came from the same place as Hercules and Sun Wukong, and those came from the natural human biological imperatives to survive.

Superheroic morality requires Western Civilization’s literary canon and political history to justify its callous disregard toward collateral damage. To be clear, superheroes routinely consider innocent noncombatants’ lives (if not their property) when they confront cosmic despots or sociopathic steroid abusers, but comics document the never-ending battle in colorful tomes largely sold after Nagasaki and My Lai, after the time when total ignorance of American military supremacy was vogue. When Wally West as the Flash pulls a hysterical single mother out of her overturned silver 2001 Honda Civic and carries her to safety from Apokoliptian cannons at breakneck speed, comic fans favorably regard his heroism; any dialogue from the frazzled thirty-something file clerk will remind readers how grateful she is to escape otherworldly horror with her life. Superhero comics don’t care about the destruction of this woman’s sole transport; when the gas tank explodes behind the Flash’s blurred strobe, this woman loses her credit cards, her driver’s license, her insurance documents, her six-year-old daughter’s vanilla birthday cake with its beloved artificially flavored strawberry icing. The comics don’t recognize the heroism of this brave woman’s seven-month struggle to rebuild her finances and maintain her identity following Darkseid’s incursion; all we know is for that poor woman, the Flash saved the day. He’s a superhero. Isn’t she grateful?”

Collateral damage and the disregard for it IS regarded. Hence the existence of Damage Control. Furthermore, that is AGAIN part of the escapism and fantasy element of it. THAT is the suspension of disbelief element of superheroes and taking it THAT realistically and criticising it for it is frankly just mean spirited and simply looking for an excuse to hate it.

Furthermore the reason the rescued woman isn’t focussed upon is because it’s not HER story. If you write a story about a protagonist THEY are your focus. Everything is for their benefit. That’s true of older non-white folktales as well.

And yeah readers are supposed to regard the Flash as heroic and the woman grateful because her kid’s birthday cake isn’t realistically as important as her life!!!!!!

This is criticising superhero fiction for being unrealistic even when it is being actively so The woman WOULD probably be grateful that she’s not fucking dead!

I wouldn’t mind seeing the survivors of something like this try to rebuild their lives. And superhero fiction has focussed upon that from time to time, but again...that’s not the point of the story. Criticising the genre fro this is like criticising Harry Potter for having the audacity to focus more upon Harry’s trauma in the wake of Cedric Diggory’s death than his parents’. Harry is the star. He gets the focus.

Superman is a White boy. Superheroes are White people. Superhero morality exacts the Melian Dialogue’s ‘might makes right’ overwhelming force realpolitik with every onomatopoetic Biff! Bam! Pow! gut punch and karate chop combo.

See what I’ve said before about how superheroes are not fascists and how force is often necessary

There exists no genetic propensity for group violence in the human genome. None.”

Er....yeah...there kinda is...that’s part of why wars happen.

racially-informed vigilantism.

This phrase in one of the articles itself sums up it’s own contradictions. Racially informed vigilantism is just one type of vigilantism, a type the superhero doesn’t subscribe to. A superhero would sooner join the likes of the Joker than the KKK style vigilantes and would be all too happy to apprehend them.

One of the articles seems to be conflating basically ALL criminals super heroes fight with people who’re labelled criminals due to racial profiling. Yes superheroes operate to an extent like police officers but you can’t truly complete the analogy whatsoever.

Few of them have legal sanction, which is partially why so many refrain from actually killing anyone as officer’s are allowed to do under certain circumstances. More than this when they take down criminals their methods are entirely different from regular cops. Apart from very loud and overt super villains who may or may not be on a rampage, most of the time when they tackle regular criminals it’s due to them either being informed of a crime that is going to happen (like a hijacking or something) or they literally see something happening whilst on patrol. They don’t profile people beyond what their super sensory abilities or logical observations tell them. Which is to say if someone is following someone else a little too closely then maybe, just maybe they are planning something. If their Spider-Sense or super hearing or something alerts them to something they will act.

Taking that, ignoring it, and then supplanting the superhero for a regular cop who would racially profile people and/or supplanting the criminals they tackle for racial minorities because those are the people who (stereotypically in the real world) would be targeted as criminals is very inappropriate. Not least of all since superhero comics obviously don’t present a wholesale realistic depiction of the real world so what they present isn’t entirely interchangeable with that. And what is more, erasure of minorities was so prevalent that overwhelming majority of all the criminals they ever encountered were themselves white, so again exchanging those for racial minorities who’re profiled as criminals is highly questionable.

It’s all just such a MASSIVE reach!

But I think the panels also work to point out that Miles himself “does not belong” in the superhero tradition. He, like most black and brown superhero characters in mainstream comics, is an outlier. In other words, people like Miles or Trayvon are unfortunately more likely to be victim of a “heroic” vigilante than to be one.

This is conflating the superhero vigilante with the majority of real world vigilantes who are overly violent (and frequently hard conservative) individuals who do take overly simplistic views of the law and use those to profile people. And it’s doing so whilst taking superheroes too literally, bringing their own personal interpretations to the mix and then overlaying them onto the superhero concept before finally accepting it as fact.

Police officers use violence against racially profiled people who exhibit unrest due to a societal system stacked against them. Well shit, Batman punches the Joker. It must be the same thing obviously!!!!!

Look. Without our stories, without the true nature and reality of who we are as people of color, nothing about fanboy and fangirl culture makes sense. What I mean by that is, if it wasn’t for race, X-Men doesn’t make sense; if it wasn’t for the history of breeding human beings through chattel slavery, Dune doesn’t make sense; if it wasn’t for the history of colonialism and imperialism, Star Wars doesn’t make sense; if it wasn’t for the extermination of so many indigenous nations, most of what we call “first contact” stories don’t make sense. Without us as the secret sauce, none of this works, and it is about time that we understand that we are the Force that holds the Star Wars universe together. We’re the Prime Directive that makes Star Trek possible. We are… in the Green Lantern Corps? We are the Oath. We are all of those things. Erased, and yet without us? We’re essential. This is an incredibly important project, because it puts front and center, not only a community that has long consumed and given power to these practices and consumer categories, but it’s a community without whose suffering and struggles, none of [these narratives] would make sense.

I agree with a lot of this but there are some problems with it.

a)     X-Men makes sense also because they are a stand in for almost ALL marginalised groups. Racial minorities, disabled people, queer people etc.

b)     Actually Star Wars makes complete sense with or without colonialism or imperialism, at least the kind which directly relates to the issues of racism. Imperialism, conquest, these are things which are much older than American society, dating back to even before Ancient Rome. It’s about freedom fundamentally and freedom is a desire shared by ALL human beings innately because at the end of the day we are animals who wish to be free and not caged. Being caged metaphorically within a tyranny is thus something we abhor

c)     The Star Wars universe doesn’t begin and end with the story of imperialism. It’s about how Democracy can be turned into an dictatorship and how that has to be prevented, or re-addressed once it happens

d

When white comics readers claim that they did not need white characters to relate to and enjoy comics (as a way to argue against positive race-bending), that point to their love of Luke Cage or Spawn as evidence of their ability to enjoy characters across race, what they are failing to note is how black, Latin@, etc… identities in the superhero genre are framed by a system of white supremacy.

Again I don’t understand this one. I as a white reader can enjoy Luke Cage rescuing someone from a burning building because doing that is part of white supremacy????

It presumes a white power fantasy is inherently different to a black one. But the power fantasy element of the superhero relates to them having powers and using them to help others and defeat villains. A power fantasy by another race would still have that because it is inherent to the human power fantasy. Non-white power fantasies would logically have all that and more!

Much like Noah Berlatsky explains in his book Wonder Woman: Bondage and Feminism in the Marston/Peter Comics, 1941-1948, part of what made Marston’s original Wonder Woman stories so wonderful, was his expectation that girls and boys would identify with the heroine, to value and idealize her compassionate strength and victory through submission, rather than through cyclical and ultimately futile fisticuffs of male dominion.

Many female readers enjoy the action scenes. Action scenes are good because it enables us to have a healthy outlet for aggression without taking it out into the real world. It is also NOT an inherently male dominion thing. Again this is THEIR projection. Fighting and violence is innate to human beings because we are animals biologically programmed towards it for the sake of survival. That goes for males and females. Furthermore far from fisticuffs just being about male ‘dominion’ the Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman comics were a reflection of impending war. A war that sadly required violence to be solved.  That’s what the superhero typifies. Wish fulfilment action in situations where violence was (usually) a necessity. Diplomacy is good and should be our first resort. In life though sometimes things do come down to necessary violence.

There are many ways to craft a racial minority superhero, but if we consider racial authenticity as a foremost concern, today’s Hollywood is simply not prepared for that intellectual labor. The real diversity conundrum isn’t how to include the minority metahuman in the existing comic framework; that’s an art project, a casting decision solved by calling Michael B. Jordan’s agent. The real question is how to write that superhero in a way that moves the medium forward, past the Reaganomics antiheroes of Alan Moore and Frank Miller and past the hyper-emotive Silver Age redux of Geoff Johns and Brian Michael Bendis. Respectable, authentic diversity in superhero comics should redefine the nature of the meta-protagonist to his powers and his audience, with exhaustive attention to cultural detail. I’m not convinced that a Black superhero would wear tights. I strongly doubt that a Black superhero would solve conflicts with his fists. The Black superhero knows that his community watches him religiously, and that any false move will have public repercussions he cannot expect or control.  If anything, the Black superhero template plays out on our nation’s cable news channels at all hours. President Barack Obama, with all his clipped vocal inflections and measured language and natural equivocation and faulty dealmaking and perfect family and limitless patience is the closest public figure to a Black superhero America has yet experienced, an international celebrity unthinkable before his ascent. Watching President Obama today, one feels expectation crush into his bones like a gravity well. No matter the political stimuli, Republicans oppose him. The concept of the Obama Presidency struck American conservatives like a Bernard Hopkins’ kidney punch, and in return, President Obama absorbs the vitriol of our coarse public debates more than any President to date (and progressives never tired of calling his predecessor a National Socialist). The agony and the ecstasy of Grant Park has given way for many Americans to the sobering fact that American authority, her global military supremacy and international economic primacy, is controlled and represented by a Black man. Disliked, hated, or worse, the Establishment is Black.  I need the Black superhero in print and/or on-screen to reflect that paradigm shift. Superheroes in the popular imagination are Establishment figures; if the Black superhero I’m presented can’t interrogate what it means when the Establishment is Black, of what utility is her story?  

A minority hero wouldn’t wear tights or punch people...why?

What do tights have to do with anything? As for solving problems with his fists this is conflating the threats superheroes face with ANY threat, when they are almost always situations which legitimately do require necessary physical force to resolve. If the black superhero patrols an area and sees someone about to stab someone else, yeah he should punch the stabber to save the innocent person if there is no time for anything else.

This is basically asking for the core foundation of superheroes (which transcends racial constructs and is innate to human wish fulfilment and mythic tradition) to be scrapped in favour of something else entirely. Barrack Obama isn’t a superhero. He is many, many things but what Mr. Lamb here is asking isn’t so much for a different template but for something just wholesale different. He doesn’t actually WANT a superhero story in the first place!

Super heroes aren’t establishment figures. Superheroes don’t uphold the law regardless. They uphold the law in so far as a greater need to safeguard innocent lives. Conflating them as inherently establishment figures ignores their origins and over literalises what they do.

At the same time the utility of their story is first and foremost as a story: to entertain and inspire.

It is inherently worthwhile for a little black kid to sit down and open up a comic book where someone who looks like them is being a good person, is helping people, is defending the weak. I agree that minority heroes shouldn’t just be white heroes who happen to have different skin colours. I think they need to reflect the realities of what it means to be black or Asian or Pakistani in white society is necessary and a superhero should do that and should have that inform how they interact with their powers.  It doesn’t mean the whole genre needs to abandon what it fundamentally is or that those minority heroes should not do the things a superhero fundamentally do.

Ultimately, yeah these characters were created within a white context, but my point is fundamentally the same thing was created in non-white contexts as well throughout history.

Super Heroes are a HUMAN power fantasy Part 1

Master Post

[rebelminxy]

Now or Never- Chapter 4

Word Count: 3261

Pairing: Jared Padalecki x Reader

Rating: Mature/Explicit

Warnings: NSFW, 18+, Come play, Self-pleasuring (male), fingering, titjob, language

Square Filled: Come Play

A/N: In this piece, Jared and Gen are divorced. This is written purely for fiction and in no way is to disrespect the Padalecki family. I send them positive vibes and happiness for the entire family. This was written for @spnkinkbingo​

Series Masterlist

SPNKinkBingo

Chapter 4      Jared checked his second phone again, seeing no response from her. He was sitting in a restaurant waiting for Gen to have their weekly lunch when his first cell phone started to vibrate in his pocket. He put the other phone away and saw that the group chat he was in was active.

Dee: ‘Hey guys! Jay and I are checking to see what are the plans  for the family to get together next week.’

Misha: “Hey there! Vicki and I already told the kids and they are excited to go to Austin. They are counting down the days until our flight.

Jensen: ‘Great! The twins and J.J. are excited to see West and Maison.’

Dee: ‘Is it ok for everyone to move the meet up from our house to the ranch? At least there the kids will have enough room to run around and private access to the river. 

Vicki: ‘Yeah, that’s fine. It would be good to get the kids outside more.

Jensen: ‘Alright, Dee and I will get an inflatable water slide and bounce house for the kids and we will make sure the cabin is stocked with food and drinks for the four day weekend.’

Gen: ‘Will have to talk to Jared about this, but I do believe we are down for this.’

     Jared was slightly shocked that Gen was down for the trip. When he mentioned it to her two weeks ago, she didn’t say a word, mentioning that their focus should be on Tom’s therapy. He left the topic alone ever since but today, he knew for sure he would bring the topic up and get a straight answer. He silenced his phone and put it away, ignoring the excitement going on in the group chat.

     She hadn’t responded to any of his messages ever since their last meet up. He would text her when he wanted to meet at the club, no response. More recently his text messages included questions if she was ok. He did get a response when he asked if he did something wrong. Her reply was no and didn’t answer after that. So, he decided to leave her alone, thinking that maybe something was going on in her life that was keeping her away. He was more hoping that was the case.

     Gen’s laughter broke him from his thoughts, causing him to look up and gasp at who was with her.

“Sorry for the long wait Jared,” Gen said to him as she made it to the table. “I called (Y/N) earlier to hang out and since we did agree on making a lunch date to catch up, thought I should bring her over and just catch up together.”

     Jared looked between (Y/N) and Gen, noticing how quiet (Y/N) went. Both women sat across from Jared, the waitress coming up to give them menus and take their drink orders. Jared ordered a whiskey and Gen gave him a glare.

“Don’t you think it's a bit early for alcohol?” she asked with a bit of a sneer.

“It's one drink, Gen,” he responded neutrally.

     Gen rolled her eyes at him and continued to talk to (Y/N), Jared assuming Gen had told her everything about their life so far since she started the conversation of her time pregnant with Odette. The waitress served their drinks and took their orders, Gen’s storytelling ending by the time their food was served. 

“So, (Y/N), what have you been up to these past years?” Gen asked as they started to eat.

“Oh, nothing much, running the family business and expanding it. When I started working there, they were just an electronics company. Once I was handed the ropes, I expanded the company into other profitable markets. We’ve opened a few shopping malls, invested in hotels in different parts of the world and a few smaller property investments.”

“Oh, that’s great to hear!” exclaimed Gen.

“Yeah,” (Y/N) smiled softly. “With the growth we’ve had, I’ve also been able to start up a few nonprofit organizations. I do believe my representatives are inquiring about teaming up with this other nonprofit organization located here in the states. Random something and are known for participating in some worldwide hunt?”

“Random Acts?” Jared asked with shock.

“I think so,” (Y/N) responded with a tilt of her head, pondering for a bit. “I was told this organization has done a lot of good work over the years.”

“If it is Random Acts,” Gen interjected. “I am actually one of the Board members. I can help you connect with the founder and the rest of the board and figure things out for the team-up.”

“That would be awesome,” (Y/N) smiled widely. “I have been wanting to work with other nonprofits but I am extremely picky on who I will team up with.”

“Understandable,” Jared spoke up. “Misha is the same, always looking for people to join that really want to do good. Random Acts is his baby and has worked hard to reach the place it’s at now. Plus, he has great people working together.”

“That’s great to hear,” (Y/N) mumbled, her gaze dropped to her plate.

“So, when are you going to tell us about your daughter?” Gen asked quickly.

     Jared glared at Gen, mentally wishing she would back off. But Gen just waved her hand at him and turned to look at (Y/N), who had a big smile plastered on her face.

“Kimiko is my all. She is my only daughter and well, my pride and joy.”

“What about her dad?” Gen questioned.

“He really isn’t in the picture. I met him in Japan at a company resort. He comes from old money and has many investments outside of Japan, and with my connections and fortune, both families thought our unity would benefit everyone greatly. But after a few months of marriage, he grew distant. And when I got pregnant with Kimiko, things got worse.”

     Jared watched as her smile turned into a frown. 

“He cared more for money than our marriage, so I filed for divorce after Kimiko was born and moved to the family home. He never made time to see her, and when my family demanded he take part as her father, he sent a letter from his lawyer stating he would provide for her until she turned 21. He didn’t care for years until I moved back home. Now he is fighting to take her back to Japan but thankfully my family is supporting me.”

“That’s great you have a support system,” Jared said softly. 

“Yeah, but because of strict protection both families have over Kimiko, she has trouble when it comes to social skills. She doesn’t talk much and would rather keep to herself than play with other children her age. I am taking her to therapy to see if that helps, but so far nothing has changed.”

     Jared and Gen shared a look of worry, but Jared guess Gen had the same thought he had because she spoke up first.

“Look, next week Jared and I are taking the kids up to a ranch our friends own. It belongs to Dee and Jensen, remember the two you met at that Halloween party years ago?”

     (Y/N) nodded silently.

“It's going to be us, them and another couple we are friends with, Misha and Vicki. We are taking all the kids so they can enjoy a weekend of outdoor fun. Misha is the founder of Random Acts and Dee is also one of the Board members. If you want, you and Kimiko can join us on the trip and maybe Kimiko can open up a bit to the kids, gain some new friends.”

“Oh, I couldn’t do that. I am a stranger to them and what about space?” (Y/N) asked, shaking her head.

“Trust me, the ranch has enough room for everyone, plus there is a spare cabin right beside that they use for when they is no space in the house. Plus, see it this way, not only will Kimiko be around kids all close to her age, but you will get to meet Misha personally and present your ideas to him. It will be fun, I promise.”

     Jared watched as (Y/N) looked between Gen and him, the wheels in her brain turning.

“Gen is right,” Jared pushed. “Misha would love to meet you and I bet Dee and Jensen would be excited to see you after so long. And Kimiko will be around good kids and of various ages. Jensen has twins, Arrow and Zeppelin, and a six-year-old named Justice Jay, but we call her J.J for short.”

“Misha and Vicki have two kids as well, Maison and West. And our three with be there. So many kids for Kimiko to expose herself to. And the grounds are private and 24-hour security all over the lands. Please, join us?”

     (Y/N) sat there silent for a moment. Jared held his breath, wondering if (Y/N) would accept. She then sighed and smiled at Gen, nodding her head.

“So you will go?”

“Yeah, Gen, I’ll go.”

     Gen squealed in joy and hugged (Y/N). Jared smiled as he saw the friends hug it out. Gen began to talk about everything to be expected at the ranch and how she would let Jensen and Dee know of the new company. Jared silently watched them converse, his mind reeling with joy at the fact he was going to be around (Y/N) for a weekend. Maybe this would be his doorway to connect with her. 

====

     Jared entered his apartment when his second phone vibrated in his pocket. He knew it was the second phone because he had placed his main phone on sound after leaving the restaurant. A simple text glowed on the screen.

‘Meet me at the club tonight, same time and room.’

     Jared looked at his phone and saw he only had an hour and a half to get to the club. He threw the phone onto the couch in his living room and bolted to his bathroom to take a shower. He dressed quickly and towel-dried his hair, not caring about the messy look. He immediately called his regular Uber driver and was downstairs, right as the car pulled up. Jared was very anxious after he received that text, worried that maybe this would be the last time he would see her. He was hoping that wasn’t the case.

     Once the car pulled up, Jared bolted from the car, mask already in place. He entered the club and again, didn’t stop to greet anyone. He made it to the room and stood in front of the door his hand inches away from the handle. He hesitated, wondering why the sudden meetup. Was this her wanting to end things? Or did she want to pick up where they left off? Jared didn’t have time to think because the door swung open and there she stood, in all her naked glory. 

     She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into the room, her arms wrapping around his neck and she began to nibble at his jawline. Her hands sank into his hair, her nails scraping his scalp. Jared wrapped his arms around her waist, his hands gliding over the globes of her ass, pulling her body closer to his. She didn’t speak a word, her mouth and hands letting him know exactly what she wanted. 

     Jared felt her hands slide down from his head and over his shoulder to his chest, her deft fingers unbuttoning his shirt. He let her take control of the situation, enjoying how rough she was with him. Once all the buttons were loose, she shoved the bothersome cloth off, his jacket joining it on the floor. Her hands explored his exposed chest, her fingers teasing his erect nipples. Jared groaned as she bit into his shoulder, he hands digging into her hair, grabbing the locks tightly. He wanted to pull her face up and kiss those delectable lips, kiss her until they were both out of breath. But he knew the rules. So he instead went and kissed her forehead, placing soft kisses all over it. 

     He heard his belt drop on the floor with a thud, his pants following suit. He stepped out of his pants and she guided him over to the bed, letting him go to lay down. Jared removed his boxers as he watched her grope her breasts, pushing them together, her eyes never leaving his. Seeing her (Y/E/C) eyes shine with lust, he couldn’t help but be reminded of (Y/N) at that moment. He wanted to rip the mask of her face, see who was behind the annoying invisible wall. He wanted to rip his off to reveal himself. And that’s probably what he was about to do because she reached out for his hands which were inches away from his mask, her head shaking in response. She lowered his hands and leaned back down on the bed, her hands moving back to her breasts. 

“I want you to fuck my breasts,” she moaned out as she twisted her nipples.

     Jared didn’t have to be told twice. He climbed onto the bed, kneeling above her. He held his growing cock in his hand, jerking himself off as he watched her toy with her breasts. Without a word, Jared slid his cock between her breasts, groaning at the feel of skin wrapped around him. If this is how it felt being wrapped in her breasts, it made him wonder what it would feel like to sink his cock inside her. He began to slide his hips, pulling and pushing his cock in between her breasts. He watched as he saw his tip poke on the other side, her tongue sticking out to lick him. He reached forward and tweaked her nipples as she held her breasts together. He watched her groan as her eyes rolled back. After being without her for three whole weeks, he couldn;t control the speed of his pleasure. Without warning, he pulled his cock from her breasts and held it in his hand, his cum spraying all over her breasts.

     He watched as he covered her entire chest, but it wasn’t enough. He was still hard and he hadn’t pleasured her. And he never left this room without giving her pleasure. The view before him though was delicious. As he jerked himself, he watched her hands slide all over her breasts, rubbing the white cream all over her chest and up her neck. She looked at him and gave him a wicked smile.

“Do it again.”

     Jared moved his hand faster, breathing heavily as he watched her lick her cum covered fingers clean, moving them back to continue playing with her breasts, humming as she watched him. With his free hand, Jared reached behind him to her core, her legs spread out on the bed. He felt how soaked she was with one swipe, causing her to moan out in pleasure. He teased her lips for a moment before pushing through, rubbing her clit without hesitation. He felt her lower half raise up off the bed under him, her moans growing louder at his touch. He moved his hand lower, his fingers delving into her heat, her juices flowing all over his fingers. He groaned out, never moving his gaze from her. 

     Jared felt his balls tighten as his hand drove him to the edge. He moved his hand faster, huffing and puffing as he felt himself go over the edge, bathing her breasts white again. But just as he came, he felt her core tightened around his fingers. He knew she was close, so with his free hand, he rubbed her breasts, spreading his sticky wad all along her skin. He tweaked her nipples hard, causing them to turn purple. She screamed out in pleasure as she came all over his fingers, giving him such a beautiful sight. Her eyes rolled back as her body raised off the bed, sweat rolling down her. Seeing her so dirty, so sticky, he leaned forward and licked her nipples, tasting himself on her glistening skin. 

     As she rode out her high, Jared worshipped her body with his free hand, still pumping his fingers inside her heat. He loved seeing how he made her body writhe in pleasure, loved seeing exactly what he caused. 

     With Gen, sex was fun, and never did he complain about it. But Gen wasn’t one to experiment, keeping things simple. But with the beautiful woman under him, it was different. Sensations were always heightened, his fantasies lived out. He could lose his mind with her and never look back. Gen was simple, this woman was wild. Everything about her screamed at him. 

     He watched her relax as he pulled his fingers out of her, her breathing heavy and uncontrollable. He smiled down at her as he examined the mess he left.

“That’s a first,” he chuckled.

“Always wanted to try that,” she responded while trying to catch her breath. 

     Jared laughed softly as he climbed off her, moving to lay next to her. They were quiet for a moment, enjoying the silence. But she then spoke up.

“I can’t come for the next two weeks, have something to do.”

“Was going to say the same, but I’m actually going to be out for next weekend. Family thing.”

     Again, silence.

“So two weeks…”

“I might not be able to meet up at all from now on.”

     Jared felt like he just got punched in the gut.

“What do you mean?”

“That this is our last meet up.”

     Jared sat up to look at her, but her head was turned to the side, avoiding his gaze.

“Look, I apologized for trying to kiss you and I promised I wouldn’t do it again,” he started.

“It’s not that, its… personal things…”

“If you need a break, we can do that…”

“It’s not a break, just...things have...changed,”

     Jared sucked in a breath, not being able to understand what she meant by change.

“Is there someone else?”

“Yes...no...maybe....I don’t know,” she huffed out as she sat up, climbing off the bed and headed towards the private bathroom. Shutting the door behind her.

     Jared sat on the bed, listening as the water ran inside the bathroom. He waited there on the bed until she came out, wiping herself clean. She made a quick walk to her clothes and started to get dressed, silent.

“Are you being serious right now?” Jared asked, his voice rising. “I mean, can you at least explain why?”

“Like I said, things change, I changed…”

“That’s not an explanation.”

“Well, that’s all you’re getting!” she exclaimed, turning to look at him.

     Jared leaned back, taking in her body language. 

“Can I at least know who you are since we are ending this?”

“You know the rules here…”

“Fuck the damn rules,” he yelled out, causing her to jump. “Sorry,” he quickly apologized 

“It’s for the best, we had our fun and it’s over.”

     Jared watched her finish dressing, grabbing her purse. He didn’t get up from where he sat, feeling that his legs would probably go under him if he did. He watched her head over to the door and open it, but she stopped, turning around to look at him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered before heading out.

[freealltherobotz]

*sigh* White People

As outraged white people go back to living in a system of wealth and power that directly benefits them, change their instagram feeds to their natural flavors of kale, rather than third-hand BLM snippets, can we just acknowledge the obvious for a second: All white people are racist.

They come in two flavors. The one you don't need to worry about are openly racist. Its a dichotomy in that this sort of racist deserves your sympathy more than anything else. They have usually fallen victim to the same socioeconomic conditions as non-white people. To keep them from questioning the power structure that benefits the wealthy, they have been told all their lives to not think about it too much, that their problems are the fault of brown immigrants and black people using welfare. These are the white people who, when 'woke', have the power to actually enact change.

The dangerous white person, the one who poses the greatest threat to black and brown people, strongly believe they aren't racist. This is pretty much all white people where I live, and probably 95% of the west coast, from the wet side of Cascades in the north, to the foothills on the southern border. They come in various flavors, but generally share the same attributes:

Genuinely believe they are not racist (Voted for Obama twice!)

Would have a white fragility meltdown if it was shown they definitely are racist

Are secretly terrified of black and brown people

See racism as an opportunity to highlight their own virtue about not being racist, rather than a societal plague

When push comes to shove, they'll blurt out some racist shit, call the police on black people for no reason, go full Karen, etc...

Understand, this sociopathic faux empathy wasn't created by these individuals. There's a whole huge complicated mechanism in place, providing a complete toolkit for this group. They listen to NPR, never use the N word, tell you how much they don't like Donald Trump.

But when the shit hits the fan, they move to fill their tanks quickly and aggressively. Performance activism, social media virtue signaling, conversations over dinner about “...just how terrible...” whatever is making the news is.

Then, when they (usually subconsciously) stop feeling a worthwhile self-rewarding return on “the topic”, they just fucking drop it, and return to being white people who, and this can't be expressed strongly enough, DIRECTLY BENEFIT FROM PAST AND CURRENT POWER SYSTEMS.

The cynicism runs deep. I genuinely believe that white people see the real issue is that they have to look at black and brown people being murdered in the streets like animals. It's viscerally disturbing. They are both fragile and live in denial. So when that denial cannot function, the fragility is shattered, and there's nowhere left to hide within their coping machine, they spend a week letting everyone know how they're not racist. But then, you know, the news cycle changes - back to kale salads.

So many 'woke' people get extra woke, for as long as it benefits them. If you classify yourself as a white woke person, there's a few things you should ask yourself:

How the fuck were you sleeping on this in the first place? (Spoiler. It was on purpose.)

Societal equity is going to cost you money. You have been given too much money, by virtue of the color of your skin, at the expense of others, with darker skin. If you believe in equity, and are white, a significant percentage of any wealth you have is stolen. From black and brown people. Are you prepared to relinquish any of that? (Spoiler: Definitely not.)

Societal equity is going to cost you power, along with all the perks, privilege and convenience that comes along with it. You have been given too much power, by way of the murderous disempowerment and oppression of black and brown people. Are you going to work towards disempowering yourself? (Spoiler: Definitely not.)

I heard a lot of people say they didn't want to watch the murder of George Floyd. They said they didn't need to see it. Black people can say this. Generation trauma is real, a lifelong fear of you or your loved ones being killed by police is real. It's lived, every day, and it happening AGAIN is something can do without seeing. White people cannot say this. But they pretty much all did. Rather than seeing it as a duty to watch the outcomes of the system they uphold and protect, their coping mechanism provides an on-demand white fragility shield. “I don’t need to see it.” One suspects, if they just never had to see any of what goes on across America in black and brown communities, they wouldn't even bother pretending to care.

If you're white and reading this, and you don't like it: Fuck you. You know it's true.

If you're black or brown and reading this, don't expect white people to change anything. Never, in all of human history, has a group of people on the upside of a societal dynamic changed things in a way that doesn't just increase their hold on power and wealth. Change won't come from some contrived awakening of whites. It must be forced. By any means necessary.

One thread of hope lies with openly racist white people. They're poor. The system has fucked them too. The propaganda machine that stokes their racism is powerful, but doesn't pass basic scrutiny. If they can be woken up to the fact that they're being fucked over by the same group of people fucking over people of color, actual systemic change os possible.

Dr Martin Luther King formed the Poor People's Campaign in 1968. It was centered around bringing together people of all races and ethnicities who were economically disenfranchised. King organized what was to become a six week sit in Lafayette Park in Washington DC, starting in May. 20,000 army soldiers were prepped for a complete military occupation of the capital should the Poor People's Campaign gain traction. King was murdered on April 4th. Unifying the poor is the single greatest threat to the system.

If white allies are to be found, they are here. Poor, openly racist white people. Not amidst those who benefit from the way things are. It's not exactly ideal.

[qqueenofhades]

Do you think society as a whole understands and values history? I don’t think they do. And I don’t understand why.

HoooooWEEEEEE, anon. What follows is a good old Hilary History Rant ™, but let me hasten to assure you that none of it is directed at you. It just means that this is a topic on which I have many feelings, and a lot of frustration, and it gets at the heart of many things which are wrong with our society, and the way in which I try to deal with this as an academic and a teacher. So…. yeah.

In short: you’re absolutely right. Society as a whole could give exactly dick about understanding and valuing history, especially right now. Though let me rephrase that: they could give exactly dick about understanding and valuing any history that does not reinforce and pander to their preferred worldview, belief system, or conception of reality. The human race has always had an amazing ability to not give a shit about huge problems as long as they won’t kill us right now (see: climate change) and in one sense, that has allowed us to survive and evolve and become an advanced species. You have to compartmentalize and solve one problem at a time rather than get stuck in abstracts, so in that way, it is a positive trait. However, we are faced with a 21st century where the planet is actively burning alive, late-stage capitalism has become so functionally embedded in every facet of our society that our public values, civic religion, and moral compass (or lack thereof) is structured around consumerism and who it benefits (the 1% of billionaire CEOs), and any comfortable myths of historical progress have been blown apart by the worldwide backslide into right-wing authoritarianism, xenophobia, nationalism, racism, and other such things. In a way, this was a reaction to 9/11, which changed the complacent late-20th century mindset of the West in ways that we really cannot fathom or overstate. But it’s also a clarion call that something is very, very wrong here, and the structural and systemic explanations that historians provide for these kinds of events are never what anyone wants to hear.

Think about it this way. The world is currently, objectively speaking, producing more material resources, wealth, food, etc than at any point before, thanks to the effects of globalism, the industrial and information revolutions, mass mechanizing, and so on. There really isn’t a “shortage” of things. Except for the fact that the distribution of these resources is so insanely unequal, and wildly disproportionate amounts of wealth have been concentrated in a few private hands, which then use the law (and the law is a tool of the powerful to protect power) to make sure that it’s never redistributed. This is why Reaganism and “supply-side”, aka “trickle-down” economics, is such bullshit: it presupposes that billionaires will, if you enable them to make as many billions as possible without regulation, altruistically sow that largess among the working class. This never happens, because obviously. (Sidenote: remember those extravagant pledges of billions of euros to repair Notre Dame from like 3 or 4 French billionaires? Apparently they have paid… exactly not one cent toward renovations, and the money has come instead from the Friends of Notre Dame funded by private individuals. Yep, not even for the goddamn cause célèbre of the “we don’t give a shit about history” architectural casualties could they actually pay up. Eat! The! Rich!…. anyway.)

However, the fact is that you need to produce narratives to justify this kind of exploitation and inequality, and make them convincing enough that the people who are being fucked over will actively repeat and promote these narratives and be fiercely vested in their protection. Think of the way white American working-class voters will happily blame minorities, immigrants, Non-Murkan People, etc for their struggles, rather than the fact of said rampant economic cronyism and oligarchy. These working-class voters will love the politicians who give them someone to blame (see: Trump), especially when that someone is an Other around whom collective systems of discrimination and oppression have historically operated. Women, people of color, religious minorities/non-Western religions, LGBT people, immigrants, etc, etc…. all these have historically not had such a great time in the capitalist Christian West, which is the predominant paradigm organizing society today. You can’t understand why society doesn’t value history until you realize that the people who benefit from this system aren’t keen on having its flaws pointed out. They don’t want the masses to have a historical education if that historical education is going to actually be used. They would rather teach them the simplistic rah-rah quasi-fictional narrative of the past that makes everyone feel good, and call it a day. 

The classic liberal belief has always been that if you can just teach someone that their facts are wrong, or supply them with better facts, they’ll change their mind. This is not how it works and never has, and that is why in an age with, again, more knowledge of science than ever before and the collected wisdom of humanity available via your smartphone, we have substantial portions of people who believe that vaccines are evil, the Earth is flat, and climate change (and 87 million other things) are fake and/or government conspiracies. As a medievalist, I get really tetchy when the idiocy of modern people is blamed on the stereotypical “Dark Ages!” medieval era (I have written many posts ranting about that, so we’ll keep it to a minimum here), or when everything bad, backward, or wrong is considered to be “medieval” in nature. Trust me, on several things, they were doing a lot better than we are. Other things are not nearly as wildly caricatured as they have been made out to be. Because once again, history is complicated and people are flawed in any era, do good and bad things, but that isn’t as useful as a narrative that flattens out into simplistic black and white.

Basically, people don’t want their identities, comfortable notions, and other ideas about the past challenged, especially since that is directly relevant to how they perceive themselves (and everyone else) in the present. The thing about history, obviously, is that it’s past, it’s done, and until we invent a time machine, which pray God we never fucking do, within a few generations, the entire population of the earth has been replaced. That means it’s awfully fragile as a concept. Before the modern era and the invention of technology and the countless mediums (book, TV, radio, newspaper, internet, etc etc) that serve as sources, it’s only available in a relatively limited corpus of documents. History does not speak for itself. That’s where you get into historiography, or writing history. Even if you have a book or document that serves as a primary source material, you have to do a shit-ton of things with it to turn it into recognizable scholarship. You have to learn the language it’s in. You have to understand the context in which it was produced. You have to figure out what it ignores, forgets, omits, or simply does not know as well as what it does, and recognize it as a limited text produced from a certain perspective or for a social reason that may or may not be explicitly articulated. The training of a historian is to teach you how to do this accurately and more or less fairly, but that is up to the personal ethic of the historian to ensure. When you’re reading a history book, you’re not reading an unmediated, Pure, This Was Definitely How Things Happened The End information download. You are reading something by someone who has made their best guess and has been equipped with the interpretive tools to be reasonably confident in their analysis, but sometimes just doesn’t know, sometimes has an agenda in pushing one opinion over another, or anything else.

History, in other words, is a system of flawed and self-serving collective memory, and power wants only the memory that ensures its survival and replication. You’ve heard of the “history is written by the winners” quote, which basically encapsulates the fact that what we learn and what we take as fact is largely or entirely structured by the narrative of those who can control it. If you’ve heard of the 1970s French philosopher Michel Foucault, his work is basically foundational in understanding how power produces knowledge in each era (what he calls epistemes) and the way in which historical “fact” is subject to the needs of these eras. Foucault has a lot of critics and his work particularly in the history of sexuality has now become dated (plus he can be a slog to read), but I do suggest familiarizing yourself with some of his ideas. 

This is also present in the constant refrain heard by anybody who has ever studied the arts and humanities: “oh, don’t do liberal arts, you’ll never get a job, study something worthwhile,” etc. It’s funny how the “worthwhile” subjects always seem to be science and engineering/software/anything that can support the capitalist military industrial complex, while science is otherwise completely useless to them. It’s also always funny how the humanities are relentlessly de- or under- funded. By labeling these subjects as “worthless,” when they often focus on deep investigation of varied topics, independent critical thought, complex analysis, and otherwise teaching you to think for yourself, we therefore decrease the amount of people who feel compelled to go into them. Since (see again, late-stage capitalism is a nightmare) most people are going to prefer some kind of paycheck to stringing it along on a miniscule arts budget, they will leave those fields and their inherent social criticism behind. Of course, we do have some people – academics, social scientists, artists, creatives, activists, etc – who do this kind of work and dedicate themselves to it, but we (and I include myself in this group) have not reached critical mass and do not have the power to effect actual drastic change on this unfair system. I can guarantee that they will ensure we never will, and the deliberate and chronic underfunding of the humanities is just one of the mechanisms by which late-stage capitalism replicates and protects itself.

I realize that I sound like an old man yelling at a cloud/going off on my paranoid rant, but…. this is just the way we’ve all gotten used to living, and it’s both amazing and horrifying. As long as the underclasses are all beholden to their own Ideas of History, and as long as most people are content to exist within the current ludicrous ideas that we have received down the ages as inherited wisdom and enforced on ourselves and others, there’s not much we can do about it. You are never going to reach agreement on some sweeping Platonic ideal of universal history, since my point throughout this whole screed has always been that history is particular, localized, conditioned by specific factors, and produced to suit the purposes of a very particular set of goals. History doesn’t repeat itself, per se (though it can be Very Fucking Close), but as long as access to a specific set of resources, i.e. power, money, sex, food, land, technology, jobs, etc are at stake, the inherent nature of human beings means that they will always be choosing from within a similar matrix of actions, producing the same kind of justifications for those actions, and transmitting it to the next generation in a way that relatively few people learn how to challenge. We have not figured out how to break that cycle yet. We are an advanced species beyond any doubt, but we’re also still hairless apes on a spinning blue ball on the outer arm of a rural galaxy, and oftentimes we act like it.

I don’t know. I think it’s obvious why society doesn’t understand and value history, because historians are so often the ones pointing out the previous pattern of mistakes and how well that went last time. Power does not want to be dismantled or criticized, and has no interest in empowering the citizens to consider the mechanisms by which they collaborate in its perpetuation. White supremacists don’t want to be educated into an “actual” version of history, even if their view of things is, objectively speaking, wildly inaccurate. They want the version of history which upholds their beliefs and their way of life. Even non-insane people tend to prefer history that validates what they think they already know, and especially in the West, a certain mindset and system of belief is already so well ingrained that it has become almost omniscient. Acquiring the tools to work with this is, as noted, blocked by social disapproval and financial shortfall. Plus it’s a lot of goddamn work. I’m 30 years old and just finished my PhD, representing 12 years of higher education, thousands of dollars, countless hours of work, and so on. This is also why they’ve jacked the price of college through the roof and made it so inaccessible for people who just cannot make that kind of commitment. I’ve worked my ass off, for sure, but I also had support systems that not everyone does. I can’t say I got here All On My Own ™, that enduring myth of pulling yourselves up by your bootstraps. I know I didn’t. I had a lot of help, and again, a lot of people don’t. The academy is weird and cliquish and underpaid as a career. Why would you do that?

I wish I had more overall answers for you about how to fix this. I think about this a lot. I’ll just have to go back to doing what I can, as should we all, since that is really all that is ultimately in our control.

[atlanticcanada]

Politicians need to listen to each other on national unity, N.S. premier says

Canada's politicians have to listen to one another to address economic rifts that could hinder national unity, Nova Scotia's premier says, as he adds his voice to calls for changes to the federal government's fiscal stabilization program.

"I worry that the country has an East-West feel to it which is not a healthy thing for Canada," Stephen McNeil said in a recent year-end interview with The Canadian Press.

"We need to continue to make sure that we listen to one another."

McNeil, who is one of only three Liberal premiers still in office, voiced support for resource-rich provinces such as Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, which face substantial budgetary shortfalls in large part because of lower world oil prices.

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau has said his department is examining ways to change how Ottawa distributes money to cash-starved provinces and hinted that the details would be worked out in 2020.

McNeil said he is well aware of the fact that Nova Scotia has benefited from Alberta's energy sector, which has employed thousands of people from his province over the years. McNeil said there is no doubt Alberta's economy has been "shocked" by the oil downturn, and the province's pleas for help are real.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has been warning for months of growing anger in Western Canada over the region's concerns being ignored.

"We need to listen to this," McNeil said. "That doesn't mean there isn't going to be tough conversations, but these are real feelings in Alberta. Some of them are well founded and some of them aren't, but you have to be mindful of that."

McNeil said the conversation also needs to be extended to national programs such as health care, which he believes need to be better tailored to suit the needs of different regions.

He said the Atlantic region in particular needs change to address stresses to the health-care system because of an aging population -- an argument McNeil and other Atlantic premiers have been increasingly making with the federal government.

McNeil said he believes the push to tear down red tape that leads to internal trade barriers is another way to ease national tensions.

"We are signing these big trade agreements with countries and yet we are having challenges internally," he said. "We want to work on a national level on how we share our resources."

To that end, McNeil said it's hoped there will also be progress in the new year in brining Ottawa on board with a proposed shared energy utility corridor in Atlantic Canada.

Currently low capacity in electrical lines, especially between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, has created bottlenecks and federal funding is needed to help upgrade the system, McNeil said.

He said modernizing the regional electrical grid is key to helping move renewable energy across Atlantic Canada and beyond.

"That includes Quebec," said McNeil. "Bringing energy in from Quebec and moving energy through Quebec to other parts of Canada. But that would require all of us to have a broader view than just our own respective utilities."

Approaching his seventh year in office, McNeil said the results of the 2019 federal election should be noted by all politicians in Canada.

"The voter has a way of shocking politicians into reality," he said. "I think the federal election gave everyone a chance to pause. Canadians want to see something different so governments should pay attention to that."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2019.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/2rEJVrx

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Back in March, before the 2020 Democratic primary contest really ramped up, I wrote an article about the divides in the Democratic Party at the level of activists and elected officials. There are splits along several fronts, but the main fault line runs between two more liberal factions on the one side — I dubbed them the “Super Progressives” and the “Very Progressives” — and two more center-left ones — the “Progressive Old Guard” and the “Progressive New Guard.” (You can read that original article for fuller descriptions of those groups, but in short: Think Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for “Super Progressives,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren for “Very Progressives,” South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg for “Progressive New Guard” and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for “Progressive Old Guard.”)

In March, though, it wasn’t clear how these wings would interact in the Democratic primary, or more generally in the run-up to 2020. Which would voters rally behind? What would they argue about?

The 2020 primary process and what’s happened on Capitol Hill over the last few months has started to answer those questions, clarifying the deep divisions between the party’s left and its center-left. And, at least so far, those divisions have revolved around (i) health care, (ii) how much the party should take on corporations and the wealthy, and (iii) race.

Health care

Earlier this year, “Medicare for All” — the idea that a government-run health insurance plan along the lines of Medicare should replace private insurance — looked on its way to becoming the Democratic Party’s de facto approach on health care, with Democrats wary of the concept in the clear minority. A House bill introduced in February by Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, one of the leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, got a majority of House Democrats behind it. Even 2020 candidates closer to the ideological center than Warren or Bernie Sanders, including Kamala Harris (Progressive New Guard) and Buttigieg, were leaning into the idea.

But former vice president Biden (“Progressive Old Guard”) entered the race at the top of the polls and has emphatically run against M4A. Pelosi and more moderate Democrats have echoed his wariness, arguing that M4A is both too complicated to implement and too electorally risky. With the politics of the issue changing, Harris came up with a more modest M4A plan than the one written by Jayapal, while Buttigieg started aping Biden’s stronger anti-M4A rhetoric.

Warren, Sanders and the party’s liberal wing remain deeply committed to the idea. They have strongly defended Medicare for All and cast its opponents as in the pockets of the health insurance industry.

So which side is winning? On M4A, I would argue that the more moderate wings have the upper hand for now. You can see that in the Buttigieg and Harris campaigns, in which both felt the need to shift their rhetoric away from M4A. Polling suggests Democratic voters have fairly positive views of M4A, but Democrats also really like more incremental approaches (like building on Obamacare or “Medicare for all who want it”). And full-fledged M4A is fairly controversial with the broader electorate. Here, for example, are the results from a Marist College survey conducted over the summer:

How much support do various Democratic policies get?

Percentage supporting each policy position

Policy position Democrats Republicans Adults Medicare for All who want it 90% 46% 70% Wealth tax 88 32 62 Green new deal 86 26 63 Assault weapons ban 83 29 57 Legalizing marijuana 74 41 63 Medicare for All 64 14 41 Abolishing death penalty 55 16 36 Reparations 46 3 27

Source: Marist poll

If Sanders or Warren makes it to the general election, he or she will face a lot of pressure from the broader Democratic Party to soften his or her health care stands. In fact, Warren is already doing so, putting out a plan last week that essentially would put off a full push to put all Americans under Medicare for All until her third year in office.

Confronting the wealthy

If the more progressive wings of the Democratic Party have lost ground on health care, I think they might be winning the intra-party debate over how Democrats should approach the wealthy and corporations.

Let me briefly explain the party fissure here. Both Sanders and Warren have embraced specific taxes on wealth, as opposed to more traditional Democratic proposals to increase income taxes on upper-income Americans and businesses. Both are refusing to attend fundraisers in which big donors could have special access to them. Warren, Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and liberal activists are increasingly critical of billionaires, suggesting they are often barriers to political change and the fact that they have so much wealth in and of itself illustrates flaws with America’s economic system. Warren, in particular, has called for the breakup of big tech companies and much more aggressive oversight of Wall Street and Washington lobbying.

None of the other Democratic candidates in the 2020 race have embraced this highly confrontational approach with the wealthy and major corporations. But it’s not like the center-left in the Democratic Party is going around defending billionaires (that would be politically stupid), so this divide is a bit harder to see in the wild. My guess is that some of the center-left candidates think ideas like the wealth tax are not practical or realistic. The candidates who don’t have big small-donor bases like Sanders and Warren — so basically the rest of them — have some incentive not to bash the rich; those candidates need wealthy donors to help finance their campaigns. And the candidates who don’t win the presidency might want to get lucrative jobs on Wall Street or K Street or become paid speakers — career paths that are easier if wealthy Americans don’t hate you.

We don’t have a lot of polling on say, whether voters want their candidates to attend big-dollar fundraisers. But a number of polls, like the Marist one above, suggest the wealth tax is fairly popular. And the broader concept that the wealthy have too much power is even more popular — basically unifying Democrats and even getting some Republican support. And politically it’s hard to really defend the wealthy. No candidate wants to say, “If I am president, I guarantee my big donors will have special access to me.”

So in terms of taking on wealthy individuals and big companies, the center-left is generally moving toward the left’s positions (at least publicly). Center-left 2020 candidates, like Buttigieg and Harris, are suggesting that Facebook in particular has too much power and criticizing the tech companies more directly. Democrats on Capitol Hill are increasingly slamming Facebook, with some even praising Warren specifically for leading them toward this stance. Left-leaning billionaires themselves are suggesting the political system is too weighted toward giving them power.

Race

The racial debate is even less out in the open than the one about taking on the wealthy. But it’s there. Sanders and Warren favor a commission to study the idea of reparations for black Americans. Sanders and Warren want to change crossing the border illegally from a criminal to a civil offense. The Vermont senator wants to allow people currently incarcerated to vote and has suggested he would suspend U.S. foreign aid to Israel if it doesn’t improve how it treats the Palestinians. Biden and more centrist Democrats generally aren’t embracing these ideas.

I doubt Biden really is deeply opposed on principle to allowing people in jail to vote or some kind of effort to address the legacy of slavery and its effects on black Americans. But some of these ideas are fairly unpopular with the overall electorate, and he has likely decided they are not worth the cost of losing any voters, while Sanders and Warren haven’t made that same calculus. So on this bloc of issues, Biden is not really leaning into his opposition, nor are Warren and Sanders really leaning into their support.

So those are the huge divides. You’ll notice that many of these policies have little chance of becoming law, and I think everyone knows that. After all, Democrats are heavy underdogs to win a majority of seats in the U.S. Senate in 2020 and even if they do, that majority will include members such as West Virginia’s Joe Manchin who aren’t likely to embrace transformational policies such as M4A.1

Instead, many of these fights are really a proxy for broader debates within the Democratic Party: Should Democrats set really big goals and push hard for them, like Medicare for All, as opposed to govern in a more incremental way? Should Democrats reject some of the centrism on economic issues and alliances with big business and Wall Street of the Clinton and Obama years for a more aggressive populism? How willing should Democrats be to push for policies, like allowing those currently incarcerated to vote, that might disproportionately benefit people of color but offend some white voters, who likely will be as much as two thirds of the electorate in 2020? Many liberals think President Barack Obama aimed too low during the Obamacare debates (and on other issues too) and ended up accomplishing less because he was focused on building consensus with both corporate interests and congressional Republicans. Democrats like Biden and Pelosi generally believe that more incremental change is all that is possible in a divided country — and that setting really big goals only makes it harder to win the election.

It’s worth noting what is not dividing the party. Biden and the party’s center-left have essentially conceded to the left in embracing Green New Deal style-climate change plans, aggressive efforts to reform the criminal justice system and the impeachment of President Donald Trump. But the left has basically lost to the left-center in the intraparty fights over abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (even Warren has not embraced that idea) and very aggressive gun control proposals like a mandatory buyback program.

I’m obviously not hitting every issue here. (Foreign policy is complicated, both in describing the exact fissures in the party and in terms of which side is winning. So is, say, education.) Also, I should emphasize, Democratic voters aren’t necessarily divided in this way. There is evidence that Warren’s support is more concentrated among the party’s most liberal voters, while Biden and Buttigieg are stronger with “somewhat liberal” and “moderate” voters. But there is also evidence that voters aren’t seeing the race largely on ideological terms. The second-choice candidate, for example, for some who back Buttigieg is Warren.

But broadly, Democratic voters over the next few months will be choosing between a wing of the party, represented now by Biden and Buttigieg, that is generally wary of racial policy ideas that might piss off lots of white people, M4A and really taking on the wealthy, versus Sanders and Warren, who view those approaches more favorably. Which wing wins the primary will have major implications for both the 2020 elections and what happens after (either Democrats win the election and govern in the style of the winner’s wing or lose and wonder if they should have pursued the other course). So this fight really matters.

[ecovoyage]

What’s the deal with palm oil?

You eat a plant-based diet. You never purchase or wear (advertise) clothing made from any animal. You don’t support businesses that pro-animal cruelty or anti-LGBTQ+ or pro-racism. You avoid aquariums & zoos like the plague and don’t buy fast fashion. You understand the false assumptions linking morality and distance travelled, morality and tradition/culture. morality and superiority. You wouldn’t dare purchase from Nestle or any of their smaller businesses. HOWEVER, you still eat palm oil.

So what’s the deal with palm oil?

I’m glad you asked.

Fundamentally, palm oil is the oil extracted from oil palms. Oil palm trees are native to West Africa. Today, however, the largest producers and exporters in the world are Malaysia and Indonesia. About 85% of the oil is used for food. It is found in over half of packaged foods at the grocery store, such as ice cream, shampoo, lipstick, detergent, bread, fast foods, and nut spreads, just to name a few.

Palm oil destroys the health of humans and non-human animals as well as the environment, and exploits workers and habitats every day.

Let’s start with the environment:

The tropical plants thrive in a wet, warm climate - the tropical rainforests. Unfortunately, these regions of rich biodiversity are being desimated at alarming rates in order to provide land for these huge plantations.

Palm plantations are the leading cause of rainforest destruction in Malaysia and Indonesia, and they produce 90% of the world’s palm oil (Rainforest Rescue).

Every hour, a rainforest acreage equivalent to about 300 soccer fields is cleared for palm oil plantations. At current rates, by 2032, 98% of Indonesia’s rainforests may be gone.

The loss of rainforests:

contributes to global warming emissions: the Indonesian rainforests grow on tropical peatlands, a major carbon sink. After clearing native trees, all remaining vegetation is burned and the land is drained. This process releases drastic amounts of CO2 into the environment. Clearing rainforests accounts for about 10% of TOTAL GLOBAL WARMING EMISSIONS.

Harms animals and their habitats - Rainforests used to produce palm oil are home to unique species of animals and plants, some found nowhere else in the world. Deforestation is destroying crucial habitat for endangered species including the orangutan, elephant, and tiger.

Pollutes the air - Burning rainforest lands to make way for oil palms creates significant air pollution. Exposure to the smoke from such fires is estimated to contribute to 339,000 deaths every year in Africa and Southeast Asia. Oil palm plantations also use copious amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. In fact, fertilizer use in Asia increased by 1,900% in the last 40 years, primarily due to the growth of the palm oil industry. Damn.

Palm oil is also used for biofuel. Almost 50% of biofuel imported to the European Union is used for motor vehicles.

Okay, okay, so it’s terrible for the environment. And for human animals?

Palm oil ruins the lives of people who depend on rainforests for their livelihoods.

Up to 2 million Indonesians work in the palm oil industry. Laborers are subject to low wages for long hours of grueling work. Reports of forced labor and slavery are persistent and more than disturbing.

Child labor is another serious problem. The industry often compels children of palm workers to work, treat them poorly, and pay them dreadfully low wages (if they pay them at all).

The industry also violates the rights of indigenous peoples by seizing extensive tracts of their land (forced eviction).

The palm oil industry loves to remind everyone that it provides work for people. You know what else provides work for people? Prostitution. Three cheers for terrible arguments!!!

Health Impacts

Like all oils, palm oil is the extraction: what is left over. To make this analogy understandable, since most people aren’t eating palm trees anyway, let’s use the analogy of flax seed oil. Flax seeds, one of the world’s oldest crops, are loaded with omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, protein, and most importantly, carbohydrates (our primary form of energy!). The omega 3 fatty acids are crucial as the human body does not create its own ALA (alpha-linolenic acid). This nutrient helps to lower cholesterol, reduces artery inflammation, and even reduces the size of tumors. Flax seeds are also high in lignans, which have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer. Flax seeds contain up to 800x more lignans that other plant foods! The dietary fiber found in this seed are also incredibly important for digestion. People eating the government-backed diets (or worse) are at huge risk for Type 2 diabetes. Thankfully, flax seeds are effective at controlling blood sugar levels. Flax seeds are super versatile. Try sprinkling them on a salad, into a smoothie, on oats, mixing them into your favorite plant-based yogurt or ice cream, mixing them with water to replace an egg aka chicken period, use them to thicken anything you cook/bake. Lazy? You could even mix them into water to get that extra oomph in your day. ANYWAYS, back to the oil analogy! Despite the flax seeds amazing health benefits, that doesn’t mean it’s processing into oil keeps all these benefits. Imagine you have those beautiful flax seeds on your counter. They then go down an assembly line of underpaid, overworked laborers before entering a giant extraction machine. On the other end, after undergoing many different temperatures (oh yeah, real cave(wo)men stuff. just like our ancestors... sigh), and being exposed to various pesticides and pollutants along the way, the viscous material at the end is unrecognizable. Let’s start simple. During the extraction process (of all oils, bear in mind) nutrients are stripped away. The only macronutrient that remains is the fat (0g protein, 0g carbohydrates) and the sources of nutrients are low if not non-existant. Foods digest easier when they contain a balance of macronutrients. Oils also slow blood flow, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease and has a negative impact on our immune systems. When these oils are heated, chemicals are released into the air; this increases our risk for lung diseases and other respiratory problems. Luckily, there are so many healthy sources of fat that are also loaded with other macronutrients and micronutrients (try a loaded sweet potato with plain peanut butter, banana coins, cinnamon, and sprinkle of seeds). Back to the point: this flax seed analogy is equal to the palm oil extraction process. Palm oil has about the same nutritional profile as olive oil and therefore is completely unnecessary. Palm oil contains large amounts of harmful fatty acid esters that are known to damage DNA and cause cancer.

Sustainable Palm Oil: Does it exist?

Good question.

Short answer? No.

Palm-oil forests certified as “sustainable” are being destroyed faster than non-certified land. Sustainability labels are leading to greater expansions of plantations, driving orangutans toward extinction and destroyed natural carbon-absorbing rainforests.

“The implication is that there is no reason for companies to claim sustainable palm oil and to use labels for certified products because, in terms of deforestation, there is no significant difference between a certified and a non-certified palm oil plantation. Both need (or needed in the recent past) the complete removal of the original tropical forest.” - Roberto Gatti, Agriculture Research Associate at Purdue University

Like most environmental issues, the products are pushed into the treadmill of production and facts are hidden, due to the power and riches of businesses and the government. Don’t fall for their destructive actions.

Alternatives

All oils are heavily processed and provide no health benefits (more information coming soon on my blog). However, palm oil is the worst of the bunch. If you must use oil, I recommend avocado oil as it has a high smoke point or coconut oil due to its mild taste and versatility. Coconut oil is great for skincare, haircare, and dental care! Lately I’ve been adding a step to my daily routine: Oil Pulling. This ayurvedic practice kills harmful bacteria in your mouth, reduces bad breath, helps to prevent cavities, reduces inflammation and improves gum health, and whitens teeth. How to oil pull? Put about a tablespoon of coconut oil in your mouth and swish around for 10-20 minutes. Then spit out the oil and brush your teeth. (Alternatively, keep a spoon with coconut oil in your mouth).

Anyways, back to palm oil.

Some final facts

More than 62 million metric tons of palm oil are produced globally on 20 million hectares of land, with projected growth of 5 percent per year until 2020.

Palm oil is sometimes hidden on the ingredient list. It may be: Palm oil, Palm Kernel Oil, Palm stearin, Palmolein, Palmitate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and many others. Sometimes it is simply “Vegetable oil.”

There’s nothing “natural” about the extraction of palm oil. After refining the flesh of the palm fruit and the kernel, the oil is modified for different uses. Milling involves the steaming and pressing of the palm fruit to separate oil from kernel and fibers. Crushing is performed by cracking the kernel to remove the shell and then crushing and pressing again. Refining is how impurities are removed from the oil. Fractionation is how oil is separated into liquids (oleins) and solids (stearing). Distillation is how oil is heated and cooled to extract fatty acids. Interesterification is how fatty acids are rearranged to change melting points. Glycerolysis is when chemical bonds are broken with glycerol to keep oil from separating with water.

How to recognize, avoid, and combat palm oil:

Enjoy a home cooked meal. Fresh ingredients good for your health, the humans, the non-humans, and the planet

Read labels! Know the equivalencies. Don’t forget cosmetics, food for your animal companions, and cleaning products

Google for alternatives! Hazelnut chocolate spreads are delicious, and they don’t have to contain any oil

Customer is king. Supply and demand! Reach out to retailers to create palm oil free products. So long as you keep buying them, you are driving production. As fewer people buy these products, businesses won’t keep producing it. This goes for all animal products as well of course

sign petitions and write your elected representatives! Online campaigns put pressure on policymakers responsible for biofuels and palm oil imports. Have you already signed all of Rainforest Rescue’s petitions?

Speak out & donate. Protest marches and street action are keys to change and threatens policymakers. People are also often hesitant to donate to charities, which is understandable - try The Oranguatan Project. After donating, you can see on an interactive map exactly where and how your money is helping stop palm oil production!

Leave your car at home. For more reasons than just palm oil!

Be informed and inform others. Ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is also arguably the #1 reason why change doesn’t happen quicker. Big Business and governments would like us to believe that biofuels are good for the climate and that oil palm plantations are sustainable. Spread the word – share this information with your family and friends and encourage them to rethink their consumption habits.

**Use up the products already in your possession that contain palm oil to not create waste.

And remember, there is no Planet B.

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Sources

https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/topics/palm-oil#start

https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/palm-oil-the-hidden-truth-lurking-in-your-home

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/12/palm-oil-products-borneo-africa-environment-impact/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/12/palm-oil-products-borneo-africa-environment-impact/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/flaxseed/faq-20058354