#they couldn’t even bother with factual accuracy???

[labyrynth]

*opens jgy tag*

“the difference between WWX and JGY is that JGY is straight-up evil. he isn’t a victim of circumstance or anything, he was just BORN dirty evil. he had so many options and he GLEEFULLY chose to murder little boys and girls.”

“(unlike WWX, who is NEVER selfish and is ALWAYS selfless and ALWAYS knows what’s RIGHT and WWX saves CHILDREN’S LIVES. how many children did jgy save?? NONE.)”

…*closes jgy tag*

[house-of-slayterr]

I’m back on my…

✨Twilight Vampire Bullshit✨

Cw: Morbius Spoilers

Emmet starred at the human before him, narrowing his eyes and raising a brow. This went on for several minutes before any of the other vampires decided to speak up. It was a simple spring morning in the Cullen house, school was out for spring break so most of the other people were out of town. But the Cullens stayed home, enjoying the company of the only human Rosalie tolerated.

“Babe, what are you doing?” Rosalie asked, crossing the room to join Emmet and sit at his side.

Before Emmet could speak however, Edward cut him off.

“He’s trying to read their mind. Let me tell you brother, that’s not something you actually want to do.” Edward smirked, assumant present in his tone.

“But that’s the thing, they’re always thinking! How do you have so many thoughts? What are you planning? Tell me mortal!” Emmet bellowed.

You finally became aware of the fact that all eye in the room where now on you. You were a lone human in a house full of vampires, and they were all starring at you. But you couldn’t tell them what you were thinking, it was stupid, you’re thoughts were never truly important. Not when you felt relaxed and safe anyways.

“What have we told you about that nickname Emmet?” Esme warned her son.

“But they like it. Tell her.”

You shrugged.

“I’m actually quite curious too. You’ve actually managed to make Edward feel something other than his seemingly endless teen angst. And don’t even get me started on the emotions you’re feeling right now.” Jasper smirked.

You let out a deep sigh.

“I don’t think I will actually, I value what you guys think of me and I don’t wanna ruin that.”

“My dear, we could never think any less of you.” Esme cooed.

“Yes, and my children are stubborn, they won’t stop bothering you until you tell them. Not sure where they got that quality from” Carlisle sent a playful glare to his coven.

“Morbius” you muttered under your breath.

You knew they had heard it, but it was evident they didn’t understand. But you couldn’t contain your excitement anymore.

“After 5 years of waiting I finally got to see a Morbius in theatre last night! And let me tell you this man is the finest vampire I’ve ever seen-“

You slapped a hand over your mouth after realising what you just said.

“You went to see a vampire movie…” Emmet started. “Without me?!?”

“I’m sorry Em, you were busy. Besides I’m pretty sure you and Rose were having quite a bit of your own fun last night anyways. Let me have this.”

“You watch vampire movies with them?” Edward asked, bewildered.

“Why are you so surprised, you’ve know him for how long? Does anything Emmet does really shock you all that much anymore? Besides it’s no weirder than me watching movies about other humans.”

“The inaccuracy makes it more fun.” Emmet shrugged, smiling at you. “Now tell me about this Morbius you traitor!”

“Alright so he’s like this doctors who’s dying of an incurable disease right? And he splices his DNA with that of a vampire bat!”

“That’s not factually accurate.” Carlisle interrupted.

“It’s a super hero movie? Are you expecting accuracy? They have to embellish things to fit their own personal narrative ok.”

“Ok so I’m assuming he’s succeful?” Rosalie asks, now curious.

It still surprised the others when she was soft with you, or engaged in conversations she’s typically find grating or useless. But she loved to listen to you talk, didn’t really matter what it was about.

“Yes, it didn’t go as expected. He was hoping to just activate the anticoagulants from the bat DNa to help cure and possibly even reverse his blood condition. But because his experiment was kind of unethical-“

“And most likely illegall” Carlisle chimed in once more.

You didn’t mind when he did this, I meant he was listening.

“You hang out with Bella’s Dad far too much…”

Carlisle finally glanced up from his book to look at you. He rolled his eyes when you smirked at him.

“Let her finish her story My Love” Esme pleaded with her mate.

He simply glanced back down at his book, prompting you to continue.

“So he had to perform the experiment on himself obviously, because you can’t be double illegal and perform human experiments on another human. like what if they died, that would make you a killer.”

“Didn’t you say he becomes a vampire because of this though?” Jasper piped in.

“Yes, I’m getting to that. But being a vampire murder and a human murderer are two different things. Different species, different rules. So anyways he preforms this experiment on a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean right, and he’s not expecting to gain the blood thirsty aspect of the bats from this universe. So he blacks out and kills all the mercenaries on this ship and then jumps off.”

“Why would he jump off the boat?” Alive finally spoke up.

“Because my sweet Alice, he didn’t want to kill the last person on the boat. The girl that helped him transform. He’s had a crush on her since like college.”

“Awww that’s so sweet of him.”

“I know right. Anyways fast forward a bit, he gets arrest as the “vampire murderer” lame, I know. And his best friend who’s like a billionaire gets into the prison and gives him blood so he’s strong enough to get out. Said best friend also took the serum and is now a vampire and has been framing Morbius for murders like the whole week right.”

“So the best friend had the same blood condition?” Jasper asked.

“Precisely! But basically to wrap it up, Morbius makes something that can kill the both of them, cause he knows he can’t live off synthetic blood forever, and he manges to kill his best friend right? But bam it’s the end of the movie and he somehow turned his lady friend, but he has no idea she’s alive and he just runs off so he won’t get arrested again. Can’t prove he didn’t commit the murders since the person who did became a vampire because of him.”

“Interesting, you’re leaving out all the details you’re excited about.” Edward jeered.

“Stay out of my head lover boy! And your parents are here, not gonna say that in front of them.”

Carlisle cleared his throat and Esme giggled, leaning into him.

“So what makes this vamp so hot?”

You pulled out a picture of him, passing it around.

The reactions varied throughout the room. And you sighed in content when the phone got back to you.

“Why does he look like that?” Edward asked

“We’ll he’s a vampire because of Bat DNA genius, so he had other bat like features and abilities. God look at those teeth.” You complimented.

“He looks like a piranha” Emmet declared.

“We’ll this piranha can eat me any day.”

You looked around the room, realising you said it out loud. Emmet was howling and Alice and Rose were snickering under their breaths. Edward looked horrified and you could see the disappointment on Carlisle’s face.

“What, his bite alone isn’t confirmed to turn anyone, so like he could just bite me and I could move on with my life. I’d be into it.”

“You’re hopeless” Jasper said, patting you on the back.

“No I think the word you’re looking for is horny”

An: this is so bad. But I genuinely really liked Morbius. Wasn’t much of a storyline but I would love to see more of him! I love a good vampire movie 🥰

[ficstogo]

Proposal (Request)

Request: Okay I have a request. I would just die for a fic of Freddie and Jim’s wedding even though they weren’t technically married- Anon

Pairing: Freddie x Jim

Word Count: 1238

Summary: Jim prepares himself to pop the question to Freddie.

Warnings: Language

A/N: Although I’m not at the point where I have an exceptional amount of knowledge about Queen like I do with the Beatles, I know one or two things thanks to those on tumblr. So obviously (and it will bother me because I care about accuracy) this won’t be at all factual. I also haven’t read Mercury and Me (which I am dying too) so this is just based on tid bits from those who put interesting info from the book on some posts.

Also, you probably actually wanted an actual wedding with a party and friends and all, but this is where my mind went to, so hopefully this is good enough.

If you were to tell Jim that he was going to end up in a relationship with a famous rockstar, he’d give out a hearty chuckle. If you were to tell him that it was the man that asked how big his cock was at one of the clubs he went to before, he would more than likely roll his eyes and end the conversation there. And yet here he is, a simple gold band in between his gloved fingers, contemplating over the past, the present, and his near future.

Although he knew it was impossible for him and Freddie to officially get married, the ring, the gesture, and his feelings were really the only things that mattered. They didn’t need some pieces of paper to say that they were married, they’ve been together for what seems like forever. What difference would it make?

He tucked the ring back into his pocket and continued onto weeding the garden. As he thought about it, he couldn’t help but notice what far different worlds they came from. How Freddie was from all the glamour and lights while Jim came from a modest place. How Freddie wanted to spoil him any chance he got while Jim wanted to do and earn things himself. He smiled at the thought. Oh, how his boyfriend was such a theatric character. If anything, it only made life a little more exciting, yet at the same time, he kept his boyfriend leveled and on the ground. They benefitted each other in ways they never realized.

Getting up and patting away the dirt from his legs, Jim headed towards one of the flower beds and picked one of his many beauties. Inside, wiping the sweat from his forehead, he went up the stairs to the shared bedroom where his boyfriend would be. More than likely taking a shower or playing with one of their many cats.

There he sat with a cup of tea to his side, the children at the foot of the bed and his dark eyes skimming the paper, getting his daily intake of the news, Jim prepared himself for what he was about to do. Taking the steps in, Freddie took a quick glance at Jim as he continued on with reading.  “Hello darling, done with getting those nasty weeds out of the garden, I see?”

“At the moment, yes. But you know they’ll keep popping up.” Jim looked down at his shoes, feeling a bit hesitant.

“What’s that you got there, dear?” Snapping out of his little trance, he looked back up at Freddie with a look of surprise.

“Oh!, uh, just, uh, flower,” he made his way to Freddie as he looked up at him. “for you.” He stuck his hand out. From then, Freddies smile shone as he took the flower from Jim’s hand.

“How thoughtful of you to be thinking of moi!” Jim implishly sat next to Freddie at the edge of the bed, looking down at his hands, pulling at his fingers, a way to sooth his anxiousness.

Freddie took notice of this, a bit worried as to what was bothering Jim. Worst case scenario that this would be the end. The end that he expected one way or another and his heart couldn’t take that. Not that kind of pain. “Jim, darling, what’s wrong?”

Jim glimpses at the man to his side, a smile on his face as he notices the worried look on his face. He gives out a small laugh, knowing that he has to give it up or else his boyfriend would have a panic attack. “No nothing’s wrong. I just, uh, was thinking a lot, about us and all…”

“What about us?” He was getting more worried. He prayed that this isn’t heading to where he thinks it’s going. His heart pounded against his rib cage. No way in hell was he going to let Jim slip by without having a good fight about it.

Look at his poor face, Jim could only giggle. He’d keep up the act. Just for a little but not to the point where it could lead to poor man crying his eyes out. “I’m not happy with where I am. With you. Right now, I think I could be happier, in another state than the current one I’m in.”

“Darling if there’s something I’ve done, if there’s something you don’t like, I can change. I’ll do whatever you want me too, I’ll stop-”

“Fred, Fred, Fred! Calm down, love, “ Jim grabbed a hold of Freddies hands, rubbing his thumbs against his smooth skin. “I’m joking.” he said softly. Freddie’s eyes were glassy, a mix of horror and shock coming across his face.

Taking one of his hands away, Freddie gave a light smack across Jim’s shoulder. “You prick! Stop that shit! I was on the verge of tears!”

“I’m sorry love! I’m sorry.” He looked down at their hands, appearing thoughtful, planning on what he was going to say next. Best to let the words just come out. “In all honesty, I am happy but I’m not at the happiest that I can be.” He looked back up at Freddie with a smile on his face. Digging into his pocket, he pulled the ring out hiding it in his fist.

“I just want to let you know that you’re honestly the only one that can make me even more happier than now.” Holding open his hand to reveal the gold band, he continued on. “I know we can’t really make it official but I just want you to know how much I love you and how far how would go for you.”

Freddie, with a hand up to his face, wide eyes in shock, could only stare at the moment. The man in front was wanting to marry him. Be his husband. For some reason, he never thought that this moment would come to be. He didn’t care about the law, it was more of the fact that he didn’t think that far ahead. He only wanted to live in the moment when it came to Jim. The idea of marrying him was more of a passing thought if anything. With a small sniffle, a giggle, and a wipe to his eyes, Freddie stuck out his hand, palm downward and said, “Well you must put it on me darling, I would love to see how it would look on me.”

With a laugh to cover up the breath he was holding in, Jim took Freddie’s ring finger and slid the ring right in. A perfect fit. Looking down at his finger, Freddie couldn’t help but have a smile on his with tears on the edge of his eyelids. “Jim, my lovely husband, you have certainly made me the happiest man alive.” Looking back up he couldn’t help but let the tears run and have his smile glow.

Smiling in return, Jim takes Freddie’s face in both of his hands and pulls him in for a short yet sweet kiss, and then looking at him in the eyes and respond, “And you, I, love.” He then goes on and pinches Freddie’s cheek. “What a pleasure to have such a cheeky bastard like yourself to be my husband.”

For the rest of the day, Jim and Freddie lie in bed with their children beside them, talking and holding onto each other, often looking at the ring on Freddie’s finger.

[inyournightmares97]

GOT7 AS: Doctors

Just some cute bullet points about what GOT7 would be like as doctors. I know almost nothing about doctors and medicine so take it easy on me with the factual accuracy.  

Mark: Emergency Medicine

Mark is the stone-faced doctor who is head of the ER. 

Despite the fact that the Emergency ward is always filled with people panicking, with life-or-death cases and horrifying situations, Mark always maintains a straight and calm face through it all. His ability to stay calm and composed and make rational decisions even when patients are bleeding to their death is what makes him the best Emergency medicine doctor. 

He is very sweet and calm when not on duty, but his eyes flash with anger whenever one of the junior doctors get flustered while handling a patient. 

Panicking at the Emergency room is unforgivable. A cool and rational decision could be the difference between someone’s life and death. Mark Tuan makes sure to drill that into every single doctor and resident that works underneath him. 

But sometimes, when he has to declare a person dead and there’s nothing they can do to save them, Mark takes a moment to go into the other room and cry for a little bit. You were a junior doctor and you spotted him kneeling on the floor and crying in the on-call room one day, after a number of patients were brought in dead after a construction accident. 

You realized that Dr. Mark Tuan wasn’t emotionless. He just bottled up his emotions until he had a convenient moment to release them. He was afraid that they would interfere with his work if he let them overwhelm him while he was handling the patient. 

Some of the other interns and junior doctors were scared of Dr. Tuan, but he was actually quite shy and sweet. He once blushed when you brought him a coffee one morning and thanked you in a soft, shy voice. He brought you a coffee the next day in return. 

You had also seen him playing with a small child when her mother was taken into the emergency room. She had been crying but Dr. Tuan let her play with her stethoscope and laughed when the large instrument wouldn’t fit properly into the toddler’s ears. 

One of the nurses once told you that there Mark Tuan’s laugh was probably one of the wonders of the world. You couldn’t look at it for too long because it would dazzle you. He was probably the most popular doctor among all the female staff at the hospital because of his handsome looks. 

It was really hard to find him if he wasn’t on duty, though. Dr. Tuan seemed to vanish out of thin air whenever he wasn’t on a shift and you had once spotted him practically racing to get home after he’d worked two shifts in a row. 

But he worked hard, so you supposed he deserved it. 

Jaebum: Neurosurgery

Dr. Im Jaebum is one of the most well-known doctors in the hospital. He’s won awards for his research in neurology and his picture is even put up in the lobby because he’s the most recommended neurosurgeon in the city. 

You don’t talk to Im Jaebum before a surgery. When he’s putting his scrubs on and preparing to go into the operation theater, even a tiny unwarranted giggle from an intern will cause him to go ballistic. He once grabbed a junior doctor by the collar after surgery because the man misidentified a surgical instrument and almost handed him the wrong one. Nobody messes with Im Jaebum’s surgery. 

Even though Dr. Im pretends to be extremely cold and professional, he lives for those successful surgeries when the families come to him later with tears in their eyes and thank him for saving the patient’s life. No matter how busy he is, Jaebum always takes out time to meet the patient’s family and explain exactly how the surgery is going to go/has gone. 

It reminds him why he’s in this profession and it reassures him that he’s doing some good in this world. 

Jaebum sometimes takes the junior doctors and interns out for drinks if they’ve worked hard and had a successful surgery. He seems a little gruff but he makes sure to give compliments just as often as he gives scoldings. 

You often assisted during Jaebum’s surgeries and you thought he was extremely famous for his steady hands and steady gaze. But you once saw him turn white when he saw a little infant boy lying on the surgery table. Jaebum’s hands trembled for a little bit and he had to step out of the room for a few seconds but he returned looking calm and composed. 

He is always a little bit softer with his female colleagues and it sometimes makes the male doctors in the Neurology department angry. But none of them have the guts to say anything to him about it. 

Jaebum is also on the hospital’s Board. He attends meetings religiously and makes sure that all the departments are getting enough funds. He has a soft spot for Dr. Choi Youngjae, so somehow the OB-GYN department ends up with the most budget every year.

Jackson: Physical Therapy

Dr. Jackson Wang specializes in physical therapy and chronic pain. 

He has a bunch of weird-looking machines and devices in his office including this enormous rubber ball. Nobody knows what all those devices are for. Even Jackson isn’t entirely sure. They’re rarely used because he mostly just recommends Pilates and yoga for common problems. 

Always greets his patients with an enormous smile and asks them a bunch of random questions about their lives and day before he starts talking about their pain or what they need treatment for. You were one of his regular patients because you suffered from chronic pain due to a spinal injury some years back and Jackson always remembers his patients. Every single one. 

Jackson gets a lot of old people complaining about body pains and he’s always extra sweet and smiley with them. You had once spotted an old lady who admitted to her friend that her pain wasn’t even that bad anymore, but she liked coming down to the hospital for treatment because of the ‘cute, sweet young doctor’. 

A lot of his patients are sports-persons. Jackson wanted to play sports professionally once and he’s a complete fanboy, so he makes sure to take all their autographs and frames them so he can hang them up in a small corner of his office. That collection of autographs is his most prized possession. 

Insists on his department being painted bright colors. It’s even more colorful than the pediatric wing. 

Lives for the days when he gets children as patients. It’s not very often and Jackson is often bothering Dr. Kim Yugyeom of the Pediatric department to refer more children to physical therapy. But the one time Yugyeom did refer a little boy who had been in an accident and had his legs partially paralyzed, Jackson almost cried. 

Gets a little bit hurt when people tell him he’s ‘not a real doctor’ but always forces a smile and tries not to get too angry about it. 

Once an extremely rude patient called him a ‘massage therapist’ and Jackson smiled before calmly reminding him that he knew exactly which part of the patient’s body to press to make him pass out while screaming in pain. 

The patient never came back for another appointment after that.

Jinyoung: Psychiatry

He’s the Departmental head of what most people call the “crazy” ward. 

If you use the words crazy, retarded or anything else inappropriate around Dr. Park Jinyoung, be prepared to be kicked out of the hospital. He once fired a nurse from his department for referring to a difficult patient as ‘bat-shit’. 

He likes to remind his staff that they never know when they might find themselves on the other side of the glass wall.

It’s a little bit scary because he has an almost psychotic glint in his eyes as he says it. 

Dr. Jinyoung is extremely kind and understanding with his patients, and they all love him. But he can’t stand seeing parents and family who are ashamed of being found in the psychiatry ward. Once screamed at a mother who admitted that she was embarrassed of her daughter’s mental illness and wanted to take her home from the hospital. 

His office is full of books on psychology. If he’s not dealing with a patient then he can be found reading in his office. 

Has a slightly perverse interest in criminal psychology which also scares his staff a little bit sometimes. Jinyoung gets excited whenever he’s called in to evaluate the mental condition of a criminal, or a serial killer or something of the sort but you notice that he always looks miserable and exhausted and sort of... sad, when he returns from the evaluation. 

He once admitted to you quietly that he doesn’t have a lot of faith left in humanity. 

Keeps sending Dr. Kim Yugyeom reminders to come in for a psychiatric evaluation and once half-seriously diagnosed him with a mental age of 4 and a half. Dr. Yugyeom knows better than to come anywhere near the psychiatry ward.  

Youngjae: Obstetrics/Gynecology

There are two beautiful sounds that one hears in the OB/GYN department. 

The first is the sound of a newborn baby crying, and the second is the sound of Dr. Choi Youngjae’s laughter. Often, the two sounds can be heard simultaneously and then it’s like music to the ears. 

Dr. Choi isn’t entirely sure how or why he ended up becoming an obstetrician, but he helped deliver a neighbor’s fourth child when he was still in medical school and the woman had told him that out of all the deliveries she’d had, he was the best doctor. Also, nothing made Youngjae happier than seeing new life come into this world. 

He can sometimes be seen sneaking into the neo-natal unit after his shift is over and cooing at the adorable babies in their tiny little beds. You had caught him doing that once and he had blushed and tried to look professional as he walked away, but he admitted to you later that it made him feel less stressed to just look at the adorable babies. 

He mainly specializes in pregnancy and childbirth but he sometimes has to deal with the ordinary gynecology department if no other doctors are available. 

Once had to explain to a 13-year old girl what a period was and he got so flustered and embarrassed that he decided to stay away from ordinary gynecology and stick to the obstetrics departments where he could deal with pregnant women who thought he was adorable. 

You noticed that he became extremely sad and withdrawn on the days when single mothers admitted to him that they wanted an abortion. Youngjae rarely tried to talk them out of it unless it was dangerous to their health but he told you that it made him sad. He never performs abortion procedures himself. 

You once overheard a pregnant woman telling you that she had seen Youngjae’s smiling face after she’d had a c-section and since she hadn’t recovered from the anesthesia, actually thought that she was looking at a real angel.

Bambam: Ophthalmology

Specializes in illnesses and diseases relating to the eye and vision. 

Tells every single female patient without exception that she has beautiful eyes in order to see whether she blushes. Sometimes even says it to the men just because. 

“On a scale of one to ten, how handsome am I? Seven? Oh dear, you do need some serious treatment. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to see my devastating good looks with perfect clarity once I’m done with you.”

He’s designed his own version of the eye chart that he keeps in his office. They seem like ordinary alphabets but they actually spell out ‘Bambam is a prince’ if you read them all together. Once a Board member came by his department for inspection and forced him to take it down and replace it with the standard chart.

His department doesn’t get a lot of funds even though Bambam brings in huge money by performing lasik and other laser eye refractive surgeries. They’re cosmetic surgeries so they are extremely pricey. He likes knowing that he brings in some of the biggest money to the hospital. 

Dr. Bambam can often be found pestering Dr. Im Jaebum in the cafeteria to help him get more funds for his department so that he can buy the latest technology. 

Gets a lot of old people as patients, who have cataract issues and the like. Most people have to wear dark glasses after their eye surgery and Bambam only gives out really stylish ones with leopard-print designs on the frame. If you want ordinary ones they you have to spend extra money and go buy them from a pharmacy. 

Is extremely chill with his colleagues and buys them all drinks when they don’t have any surgeries scheduled the next day. Once turned up to work completely hungover and wearing dark glasses so he was mistaken for a patient. 

Yugyeom: Pediatrics

Dr. Kim Yugyeom is one of the best pediatricians in the city and delivers excellent results, but he can somehow never get the kids to like him. Dr. Jinyoung has a psychological theory that children have a tendency to identify Yugyeom as one of their own, which is why they don’t submit to his authority. 

Dr. Jinyoung has since been banned from the pediatric ward. 

People think the stuffed bear collection he keeps in his office is for the little kids to play with, but he secretly actually really likes collecting the stuffed bears and had to control his anger when a little boy ripped one of them apart once. He smiled and pretended to be fine but then told the nurse at reception to transfer the kid to a different doctor for his next appointment. 

Nobody messes with Yugyeom’s bears. 

He’s extremely smiley and friendly with patients and their parents. Dr. Kim Yugyeom is particularly popular with the single mothers because he’s so handsome and he always greets them with big, welcoming smiles. Some of them like to think he’s flirting with them but he just behaves like that with everyone. He tries to be polite about not giving out his personal number after one particularly lonely single mother once tried to sext him on the pretense of asking about her child’s health. 

Yugyeom once had to reprimand a nurse for handling a child too roughly, but he couldn’t do it. He ended up calling in Dr, Im Jaebum to help him and the nurse somehow got fired. He still feels bad about it. 

Most people think that Yugyeom is extremely innocent and harmless but the truth is, he’s most likely to be found clubbing with Dr. Bambam on weekends. The two of them like to pick up women at clubs by telling them that they’re doctors. It works like a miracle. 

[sinessinessines]

The Economic Lysenkoism of Late Capitalist Realism

This is rather a fascinating documentary from local history - from the year I was born in fact. The eventual result was a loss by Benn by a single percentage point. Dennis Healey, a hard-bitten, cynical realist of the Labour right, received 50.5%, while Tony Benn, an idealist whose radical ideas for reforming the Labour Party to include commitments to extra-parliamentary and even revolutionary action in support of the Labour movement, received 49.5%. This was in spite of a ridiculous bloc voting system designed to prevent radicals like Benn from ever winning internal elections that were put to the vote.

This proved to be a turning point. Labour had come dangerously close to allowing a man with revolutionary proclivities into a front bench position, and it would be 30 years before such an opportunity arose again with the last minute inclusion of Jeremy Corbyn onto the leadership ballot to “widen the debate”. 

In this respect, the 1981 Deputy Leadership election in the Labour party was more significant than any General Election would be, since it scared the crap out of those who believed that capitulating to Bennite principles of direct democracy and the promotion of state-owned cooperatives would eventually lead to the collapse of the Labour party as a parliamentary force altogether. Benn himself was transformed from “the most dangerous man in Britain” into a “national treasure”. In other words, he was, to coin a phrase “Mandela-ised”.

Militants were purged from party ranks, becoming scapegoats for what many saw as a problem with widespread entryism into Labour by Trotskyist groups. Neil Kinnock, who became leader after Michael Foot’s disastrous stint “impersonating the leader of the Labour party”, to use his words, obsessed over the issue of how to deal with Militant Tendency, a very small but highly organised and disciplined group who had gained effective control over Liverpool City Council. The Tories, as well as Labour, began to collude in their ideas about transforming the traditions of collectivism within the working classes into a dangerous “enemy within” - a Red menace that had to be marginalised from society and from the Labour party in order to make that party “democratic” and “electable”.

Of course, what this led to was the complete ideological disintegration of the Labour party, and the bitter reality that the world's first real Thatcherite to come to power would be one in charge of the party opposing hers. Thatcher famously said that her greatest political achievement was Tony Blair. She had, in a war of brutal attrition, managed to transform Britain into an effective one party state with no working class representation in the political system or across the media, which had fallen into the hands of a small number of extremely rich right-wingers.

My theory, probably repeated elsewhere, is that the political doctrines espoused by dominant groups and repeated over a generation tend to ossify into political facts, especially among those who are selected to become members of elite establishments. This is particularly true with doctrines like neoliberalism, since one of the goals of neoliberalism was to eradicate the conceptual framework of class as a way of understanding conflicts across a society. Every politician in power from Thatcher onward has espoused more or less the same idea - that the class war is over, that poverty is a decision rather than the result of a lack of opportunity, and that the working class no longer exist as a group.

This doctrine continues to be undermined by the ongoing collapse of the principles held dear by this ruling theocracy - a theocracy that would prefer right-wing populism and xenophobia to any progressive alternative. Corbyn's landslide victory, along with his electoral gains against the Tories, came as a complete shock to everybody in politics and in journalism, who had internalised the logic that nobody was a socialist any more, barring a tiny minority of “unreconstructed” socialists who refused to keep up with modern times.

Since this definitive 1981 election, the mantra within the Labour party gradually came to be this: "we don’t want to, but we have to capitulate to the interests of right-wingers to be electable." This eventually turned into a competition to become as right-wing as it was possible to be without joining the opposition party. Becoming right-wing became synonymous with wanting power.  And power was predicated on accepting the “reality” of life - that people were selfish and stupid. In other words, cynicism became the realism of fools.

This is an example of what Mark Fisher calls "capitalist realism" in his book of the same title. The doctrine is that neoliberalism is factual and real, and that any alternative is for dreamers and ideologues doomed to live on the margins. The fact that this theory, which became reality through Thatcher and Reagan, has now been proven to be completely wrong. The problem is that this will not prevent our political elites from repeating it. They will continue to make ever more absurd claims based on the associated doctrines about human stupidity and selfishness that used to be the best way of achieving positions of power in political systems and in journalism - when you couldn’t be bothered or lacked the time to research anything, assume the worst and people will think that you’re intelligent anyway: now, we see this in the increasingly pathetic-sounding attempts to reassert the old regime: "peak Corbyn" has been reached; if a "moderate" were leading the Labour party, they would have won a historic landslide against the Tories rather than simply erased their majority; Corbyn, a lifelong anti-racism campaigner, is a vicious "unconscious antisemite" and an "existential threat to Judaism", according to the right-wing Jewish press. Such claims were not even levelled at Adolf Hitler. 

What we are really witnessing is a group tantrum by esteemed "realists" whose shtick no longer works. Their “realism” is no longer real, and they have decided that the only course of action in the face of this dissonance is to deny the existence of reality itself. This is Trumpism at its finest. Everything disagreeable is “fake”. Everything can be spun into an delusional affirmation of how great an individual you are.

It feels, to me, like the concluding chapter of a seemingly unending nightmare that began in the year that I was born into. Like all final chapters, it is also the most dangerous one, because loose ends need to be clumsily tied up, and many are looking for simple answers to a very complex and interconnected problem. Slavoj Zizek notes somewhere that fascism is “a desire for capitalism without capitalism” - in other words, fascism is an irrational desire for all of the positive features of capitalism, without any of the antagonisms contained within it, which are all conveniently outsourced onto a token scapegoat. As said repeatedly on Scooby Doo, “We would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you pesky kids.” 

The most dangerous thing to happen among the elites has been to conclude that their failure - catastrophic and repeated failure - to predict future events with any degree of accuracy, using economic theories that they themselves had elevated to the status of an objective science, doesn’t prove their theories are wrong. Indeed, for them, it proves that something is wrong with reality. In short, mainstream economists have ceased to become objective reporters of truth, and are now, even more so than usual, hired propagandists and theologians who are chiefly there to spout doctrinal gibberish, the main point of which is to intimidate the layman from engaging with the issue by offering them a courtier’s reply.

Yanis Zaroufakis, the Greek economics minister during the election of SYRIZA and the negotiations with the European Union, suggests that the complete detachment of EU technocrats from the real world was first expressed in their response to the Greek debt crisis, in which Zaroufakis was centrally situated. For them, reality itself does not matter - only their “realism” does. Their “capitalist realism”. It is a form of economic Lysenkoism, and the next global financial crash, whenever it happens, will further cement this bankruptcy. Since the radical left, in a surprising turn of events, are the only group of people with any realistic idea about how human societies can adequately respond to the demands placed upon us, it is vital that we respond to the next inevitable crisis with a serious, concrete set of proposals, and a narrative that people can relate to.

[tortuga-aak]

The creator of Dilbert explains Trump's persuasion style and reminds us why people stopped caring about facts

Reuters/Carlos Barria

In this excerpt from "Win Bigly," Dilbert creator Scott Adams says both he and Trump use the same method of persuasion. 

The method involves making claims that contain exaggerations or factual errors.

Adams credits the method with raising his own profile ahead of the 2016 US presidential election — and with Trump's election win.

Adams says he doesn't prefer to ignore facts.

It's just that a "Master Persuader" can do it and still come out on top.

  In August 13, 2015, I predicted in my blog that Donald Trump had a 98 percent chance of winning the presidency based on his persuasion skills.

A week earlier, the most respected political forecaster in the United States—Nate Silver—had put Trump’s odds of winning the Republican nomination at 2 percent in his FiveThirtyEight.com blog.

In those early days of the election, the overwhelming majority of pundits in the business regarded Trump as a novelty and a sideshow.

Persuasion is all about the tools and techniques of changing people’s minds, with or without facts and reason. When I started writing favorable blog posts about Trump’s persuasion talents, it felt like going to war alone.

In California, where I live, it seemed as if most Trump supporters were in hiding because of the social and career risks of publicly supporting him. I wasn’t counting on anyone’s having my back in this fight.

Courtesy of Scott AdamsLuckily, I was wrong. Trump’s Twitter followers adopted me immediately and had my back every step of the way. When the critics came after me on Twitter and elsewhere, Trump supporters flooded in to back me.

I didn’t ask them to do it. They just did. One of my motivations for writing this book is that so many people who supported me on Twitter specifically asked me to write it. This book is a favor returned.

By the way, reciprocity is a big thing in persuasion. When you do someone a favor, it triggers an automatic reciprocity reflex in the recipient. Humans are hardwired to reciprocate kindness.

Sales professionals use this persuasion method all the time. If a salesperson buys you lunch or fixes a problem for you, you’re being persuaded.

You might think you can resist persuasion techniques just by recognizing them in action. But knowing the technique won’t protect you as much as you might think. See Persuasion Tip 3.

So why did I say Trump had exactly a 98 percent chance of winning when I couldn’t possibly know the odds?

Why did I say Trump had exactly a 98 percent chance of winning when I couldn’t possibly know the odds?

If that’s a persuasion technique. You saw Trump use the intentional wrongness persuasion play over and over, and almost always to good effect.

The method goes like this:

1. Make a claim that is directionally accurate but has a big exaggeration or factual error in it.

2. Wait for people to notice the exaggeration or error and spend endless hours talking about how wrong it is.

3. When you dedicate focus and energy to an idea, you remember it. And the things that have the most mental impact on you will irrationally seem as though they are high in priority, even if they are not. That’s persuasion.

I picked 98 percent  because Nate Silver was saying 2 percent. I did that for branding and persuasion purposes.

If I had boringly predicted that Trump would win the election, without any odds attached to it, the public would have easily shrugged it off as another minor celebrity’s irrelevant opinion.

But if I make you pause to argue with me in your mind about the accuracy of the 98 percent estimate, it deepens my persuasion on the main point—that Trump has a surprisingly high likelihood of winning.

I picked 98 percent as my Trump prediction because Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com was saying 2 percent. I did that for branding and persuasion purposes.

It is easier to remember my prediction both because of the way it fits with Silver’s prediction and for its audacity, which people perceived as “wrongness.” The prediction was designed to attract attention, and it did.

It was also designed to pair my name with Nate Silver’s name to raise my profile by association. That worked too. Social media folks mentioned me in the same sentence with Silver countless times during the election, exactly as I had hoped. And every mention raised my importance as a political observer because I was being compared with someone already important in that field.

Keep in mind that at this point in our story I was playing the wrong sport. I was a cartoonist writing about politics and persuasion.

I needed whatever credibility I could get to build an audience for my Trump blogging. Using a little bit of wrongness (my precise 98 percent prediction), I managed to attract more attention than I would have otherwise.

And that conferred on me some credibility by association. As long as I was literally in the same sentence with Nate Silver, I would gain some credibility by proximity alone.

Thomson ReutersTrump used the intentional wrongness persuasion play off then, and it seemed to work every time, at least in terms of attracting attention where he wanted it. It even works when you know he’s doing it. If you’re talking about whatever topic he wants you to focus on, he has your mind right where he wants it, even if you are criticizing him for his errors while you are there.

For example, take Trump’s campaign promise that he would build a “wall” on the border of Mexico.

Common sense tells you that solid walls are not the best solution for all types of terrain. In many locations, the most cost-effective solutions might include wire fences, or digital monitoring of various types, or something else.

If Trump had wanted to be accurate, he would have mentioned all of those solutions every time he talked about border security.

He did make some casual admissions that the border would be secured in different ways in different places. But most of the time he ignored those details, and wisely so.

By continuing to call it a “wall” without details, he caused the public and the media to view that as an error.

So they argued about it. They fact-checked it. They put together cost estimates.

They criticized Trump for not understanding that it couldn’t be a “wall” the entire way.

How stupid can he be?????

And when they were done criticizing Trump for the “error” of saying he would build one big solid “wall,” the critics had convinced themselves that border security was a higher priority than they had thought coming into the conversation.

Reuters/Mike BlakeThe ideas that you think about the most are the ones that automatically and irrationally rise in your mental list of priorities. And Trump made us think about the wall a lot. He did that because he knew voters would see him as the strongest voice on the topic.

It also sucked up media energy that might have focused on political topics he didn’t understand at the same depth as his competitors. Master Persuaders move your energy to the topics that help them, independent of facts and reason.

I’ve said Trump is the best persuader I have ever seen in action. The wall is a perfect example. Consider how much discipline it took for him to avoid continually clarifying that his “wall” was really a patchwork of solutions that depend on the terrain.

In order to pull off this type of weapons grade persuasion, he had to be willing to endure brutal criticism about how dumb he was to think he could secure the border with a solid wall.

To make those criticisms go away, all Trump needed to do was clarify that the “wall” was actually a variety of different border solutions, depending on cost and terrain, every time he mentioned it. Easy as pie.

But the Master Persuader didn’t want the critics to be silenced. He wanted them to make border control the biggest issue in the campaign just by talking nonstop about how Trump’s “wall” was impractical.

As long as people were talking about the wall, Trump was the most important person in the conversation. The Master Persuader moves energy and attention to where it helps him most.

And what about the facts and details? Not so important. Those can get worked out later.

I don’t believe Trump purposely injects errors into his work except in the form of oversimplification and hyperbole, as in the wall example. That stuff is intentional for sure. But for the smaller “errors” it is more that he doesn’t bother to correct himself.

Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesI use a similar technique with my blog when someone points out a typo.

Sometimes I leave the typo because it makes you pause and reread the sentence a few times to figure out what the typo was supposed to mean. The “mistake” attracts your energy to my writing, and that’s what a writer wants. I want your focus.

Some mistakes are just ordinary mistakes. But when you see a consistent stream of “mistakes” from a Master Persuader, be open to the possibility that some of those mistakes are about controlling your focus and energy.

When you first saw the title of this book, did you think to yourself that Trump doesn’t say “bigly,” he says “big league”?

If you noticed my title “error,” it probably helped you remember the book. And now whenever you hear the words “bigly” or “big league” in some other context, it will make you think of this book.

The things you think about the most, and remember best, seem more important to you than other things. That’s the persuasion I engineered into the title.

During the presidential campaign, it seemed that candidate Trump was making one factual error aIf ther another. Social media and the mainstream media were in a feeding frenzy. If they called him a liar, a con man, and just plain stupid. Some went so far as to question his sanity.

Even more puzzling, Trump often stuck to his claims after the media thoroughly debunked them in front of the world. He still didn’t budge. It was mind-boggling. No one was quite sure if the problem was his honesty, his lack of homework, or some sort of brain problem. But one thing we all knew for sure was that it was hard to ignore.

If you have ever tried to talk someone out of their political beliefs by providing facts, you know it doesn’t work. That’s because people think they have their own facts. Better facts. And if they know they don’t have better facts, they change the subject. People are not easily switched from one political opinion to another. And facts are weak persuasion.

So Trump ignores facts whenever they are inconvenient. I know you don’t want to think this works in terms of persuasion. But it does.

Trump ignores facts whenever they are inconvenient. I know you don’t want to think this works in terms of persuasion. But it does.

  And I know you want to believe that having a president who ignores facts makes the world a worse place, in a number of vague ways that you can’t quite articulate. But Trump tends to be directionally accurate on the important stuff, and the little stuff never seems to matter.

I want to be clear that I’m not expressing a preference for ignoring facts.

I’m simply saying that a Master Persuader can do it and still come out ahead, no matter how many times the media points out the errors.

The average consumer of political news can hold only a handful of issues in his head. Any of the lesser topics get flushed out of memory. So Trump can invent any reality he wants for the less important topics. All you will remember is that he provided his reasons, he didn’t apologize, and his opponents called him a liar like they always do.

True story: Ten minutes ago I read a long list of Trump’s tweets that PolitiFact judged to be factually inaccurate. I can recall only a few of them. They all blended together in my mind, and none made much of an impression. I had no personal or emotional connection to any of them. They were just background noise.

If Trump had apologized for any of his factual “errors,” I would remember whatever alleged wrongness triggered the apology.

If Trump had apologized for any of his factual 'errors,' I would remember whatever alleged wrongness triggered the apology.

That would stick in my mind. I assume that’s at least partly why he doesn’t do apologies. Apologizing would be a sign of weakness and invite continual demands for more apologies.

In Trump’s specific case, apologies wouldn’t have helped his campaign because there would have been too  many demands for them. But in the case of normal people who are not Master Persuaders and only occasionally make public mistakes, apologies are still usually the right way to go.

If I haven’t yet persuaded you that “mistakes” can be useful in persuasion, consider a small 2012 study by researcher Daniel Oppenheimer that found students had better recall when a font was harder to read.3

Oppenheimer explains the unexpected result by noting that people slow down and concentrate harder to compensate for the hard to-read font. That extra concentration is what makes lasting memories form.

For more science on the topic of how intentional “mistakes” can aid in memory retention, I recommend the book Impossible to Ignore, by Dr. Carmen Simon.

The gist of it is that you need to surprise the brain or make it work a little extra to form memories. Our brains automatically delete our routine memories fairly quickly. Most of us don’t know what we were doing on this day a year ago. But we easily remember things that violate our expectations.

A good general rule is that people are more influenced by visual persuasion, emotion, repetition, and simplicity than they are by details and facts.

Trump inaccurately described his plans for the wall—it probably won’t be a physical wall for the entire border span—and that lowered his credibility and tainted his brand.

Courtesy of Scott Adams/Penguin Random HouseBut he makes up for it by using solid gold visual persuasion, calls to emotion, simplicity, repetition, and the “mistake” itself to make his wall idea compelling.

If you’re using super strong persuasion, you can be wrong on the facts, and even the logic of your argument, and still win.

I will pause here to tell you that while there is lots of science behind the best ways to influence people, choosing among the many ways to persuade via “surprising the brain” can be more art than science.

No two situations are alike, so knowing what methods of persuasion worked in a different context might not help you in your current situation.

Warning: Intentionally ignoring facts and logic in public is a dangerous strategy unless you are a Master Persuader with thick skin and an appetite for risk. Most of us don’t have the persuasion skills, risk profile, and moral flexibility to pull it off.

We don’t know for sure that Trump came out ahead by oversimplifying his wall idea to the point where it sounded crazy to critics and even some supporters.

But in my judgment, he probably did come out ahead. By inauguration day, we were talking about the costs and the details of the wall; the country had already accepted that the wall would probably get built, at least in part. And in the long run, presidents are judged by their success.

Love it or hate it, historians will someday probably judge Trump’s wall to be a presidential success story. Success cures most types of “mistakes.”

  Scott Adams is the creator of the popular comic Dilbert. In 2015, Adams predicted that Trump had a 98% chance of winning the 2016 US presidential election. Adams based this prediction on Trump’s persuasion tactics.

NOW WATCH: Watch Paul Manafort — Trump's former campaign chairman — surrender to the FBI

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[newageislam-blog]

Debating Nikah-e-Halala, a direct consequence of Instant Triple Talaq, an obscene social practice allowed by Muslim Law in India

The above is often interpreted as following: if a husband divorces his wife by pronouncing talaq, he can revoke the divorce within the iddah, that is, the period of separation that precedes divorce. If the divorce is completed, the couple can remarry. The couple may divorce and remarry twice. However, if they divorce a third time, they can neither unite within the iddah period nor marry again until the ex-wife marries another man, to ensure that the divorce is taken seriousl.

Consequently, the above interpretation is used as a strategy to remarry, or Halala, and often justified by some as true belief.

However, even according to the archaic groups who follow this belief, this only applies where the man has declared divorce on three separate occasions (not 3 times in a row). A Halala cannot be planned in advance, as a Nikah between her and the second husband with an understanding of a divorce afterwards will not be valid. If she does so, it will be an illegitimate relationship with the second husband and with the first husband also with whom she comes to live after a pre-planned Halala. Mohammed has cursed both such men who perform Halala and for whom Halala is performed.

This belief has been the basis of financial and sexual exploitation of Muslim women, and has received much critical news coverage

India

[This section’s factual accuracy is disputed. Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced.]

According to the Indian All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a man cannot remarry a woman after triple talaq unless she has already consummated her marriage with another man and then that new husband dies or divorces her. In this case the marriage (Nikah) of the woman with her new husband is calledNikah halala. Per a new set of codes of conduct issued regarding divorce by the organisation in April 2017, a man can rejoin with his wife in three months after single talaq and can remarry after three months without the woman having to go through nikah halala.

UK

A BBC report found that Halala is common in certain south-Asian Muslim communities in the UK. The report uncovered many instances where women were socially and sexually exploited by local religious figures.

—

Comment By Quran expert Muhammad Yunus – 12/5/2011 8:07:06 PM

It is a pity that the Indian Maulvis in some regions have turned the noble institution of marriage into veritable prostitution. Pronouncing Talaq thrice – ‘the triple declaration’ or al-Talaq al-Bain is a pre-Islamic practice. Hanafi law declares it sinful but lawful. It makes a mockery of the Qur’anic tenets on divorce which is expounded below to defend it against any blame for this horrendous practice.

In a legally phrased passage (2:228/229) the Qur’an prescribes, among other things, a three-month waiting period for a woman under divorce notice (2:228), and commands a man who initiates the divorce to formally articulating his intention at least twice over the period (2:229). The time-framing is reiterated in two other verses (2:231, 65:1).

“Divorced women shall wait by themselves for three monthly periods, for it is not lawful for them, if they believe in God and the Last Day, to conceal what God has created in their wombs…. (2:228). (O men, you must) pronounce the divorce over two occasions. Thereafter live together (with your mates) honorably, or part with (tasrihu) them honorably…. (2:229).

“And if you divorce women, and they reach (the end of) their term, then either live together honourably, or part with (sarrihu) them honorably, but do not keep them to injure them, (or) to exceed limits. Anyone who does that merely wrongs his own soul…” (2:231).

“And when they reach (the end of) their term, then either live together honourably, or part with (fariqu) them honourably, calling to witness two just members from among yourselves and uphold the evidence (as) before God. This is to instruct anyone who believes in God and the Last Day. (Remember,) God will find a way out for anyone who heeds Him” (65:2).

Remarriage after divorce.

The Qur’an does impose the requirement of marriage of a woman with a new spouse after she has reached the end of the three month waiting/notice period (Iddat). (2:230). But this was conceivably to prevent a husband to prevent the woman he divorced after three months from entering into a new wedlock. The injunction also abolished a pre-Islamic custom of keeping an unwanted wife into wedlock indefinitely for oppressing her and saving the alimony.

“If he (the husband) divorces her (at the end of the waiting period), she becomes unlawful to him afterwards until she marries another man. If he (her new husband) then divorces her, there is no blame on the (former) couple to reunite – provided they feel that they can keep within the limits set by God. These are the limits set by God, and He clarifies them to a people who have knowledge” (2:230).

Final Comment: Muslim Ulema in India are sticking to the personal law that their pre-Islamic ancestors established under the behest of Hanafi law. For the medieval era, when women were grievously oppressed in the non-Muslim word, these brazenly anti-Qur’anic law held sway.  With the liberation and empowerment of women and a quantum change in gender dynamics in the non-Muslim world – much in line with the Qur’anic message (I am not suggesting they copied it from the Qur’an for if that was so, why couldn’t the Ulema do it), it is time for the Muslim Ulema to reform their laws in line with the Qur’anic paradigms.

One wonders why a section of the Muslim Ulema in India pass Fatwas or stick to rulings that patently contradict the Qur’an, are highly misogynistic, grievously violate international human rights and so immensely preposterous (condoning incest, forcing Indian Government to pass a law to limit the maintenance of a woman after more than 30 years of wedlock.) that one finds it hard to make any candid comment lest it could be too unsavoury. The least one may say about the practice of Halala is that a time may also come that a Maulvi from some obscure village of India may insist on watching and filming it as hard core evidence?? God save us from that day.

Can the Government of India do nothing to save the Muslim women from the grip of the Maulvis who blackmail ignorant Muslim women of divine punishment of which they seem to be the most deserving for turning Islamic marriage into virtual prostitution and condoning incest and passing preposterous Fatwas contradicting the Qur’anic message.

VEILED CRIMES Some victims have been subjected to Halala an excruciating two to eight times. Sometimes a close friend of the husband or even the brother obliges.

Holding a placard that says ‘Halala is nothing but the vilest of rapes’, the frail and waif-like Rubaiya Ahmad shudders as she recalls the darkest night in 35 years of her life – when she allowed another man into her bed.

“I felt totally numb and dead inside. But that was the only option left to reclaim my two sons, “she says.”Moreover, the Maulvi sahib had warned me that no one would participate in my funeral procession and my family would be ostracised if I flouted the Shari’a’s command. ”

Jalal, Rubiya’s “husband” for one night, was not particularly bothered about her turmoil. He was there for a purpose – to help his close friend salvage his marriage. A night after the Nikah and the mandatory consummation, he divorced Rubaiya without a fuss.

It has been seven years since Rubaiya got back with her first husband, but the horror of Halala has stayed on. “I feel as if the man I married died the day someone else defiled my body,” she declares with vehemence. Her only concern now is to ensure somehow that her sons never get to know about the humiliation their mother faced, for “it would shatter them, or worse, they may blame me for the episode”.

Last week’s meeting held by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) proved to be a catharsis of sorts for two dozen-odd victims of mental violence – namely Halala and triple Talaq. “Many who went through this could not gather enough courage to come out and face the world,” says BMMA president Naish Hasan.

Last week, Naish created ripples in conservative Lucknow by dashing off a letter to the octogenarian president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. Pressing for inclusion of women’s issues on the agenda in its next executive meeting, it pointedly demanded a ban on Halala and triple Talaq, apart from recommending a codification of the Sharia to escape misinterpretation. “The response from AIMPLB, was as anticipated – nil, ” says Naish.

In her letter, Naish mentioned seven victims who were subjected to Halala an excruciating two to eight times. One of them is Zainab Rubaiya whose husband literally turned her into a prostitute “He would pronounce ‘Talaq Talaq Talaq’ when drunk, when annoyed, when fired from his job, when clubbed by the beat constable or when I stopped his mother from hitting me with a ladle, ” she says. “Any occasion was good enough to boot me out. ”

Zainab recollects that after every Halala, her husband would weep, standing alongside their children. “I bore Halala seven times. It’s a terrible feeling to walk down the road, knowing that everyone in the Mohalla keeps a count of your moles and curves, “she says, teary-eyed. For women like Munni, whose brother-in-law volunteered for Halala, the situation is even more humiliating. “Imagine facing him every day and pretending to be normal, ” she says.

Contrary to the popular belief that Halala is confined to the rural belt, Naish claims that she has listed 11 such cases in the last two months in Lucknow alone. “However, women in the city are turning rebellious, “she says. “Some of them have walked out of the marriage after Halala was ordered – in fact, one woman begs in the Imambara as she believes that begging is more respectable than getting raped every sixth months. ”

The number of Halalas is on the rise, confirms Kamal Khan, a Lucknow-based journalist. Interestingly, Halala is also fraught with risks for the men now – there are instances where the second husband has violated the terms of a fixed Halala and refused to part with the woman, often because she was prettier than his own wife. “So caution is the key word now, ” claims Kamal, who is making a documentary on the practice and has even recorded details of a Halala service run by Maulvis in Ghazipur and Faizabad. “The cleric in Akbarpur has inherited a lucrative business from his father. He conducts the marriage and divorce ceremonies. The business is growing, “he says.

According to Khan, Halala-fixing is nowhere mentioned in Islam. The provision is made for “ittifaqan Talaq” by the second husband – meaning the woman can remarry the first husband if the second husband genuinely divorces her and the move is not carried out under a well-calculated strategy. The way it is followed today, the practice is totally against the spirit of Islam, ” he says.

Zainab has a suggestion that she is too timid to air publicly. “If a man divorces his wife and then wants her back, let him be flogged, skinned or even sodomised,” she says. Why should the poor woman be made to suffer instead? What kind of justice is this? Even animals don’t mate on order. ”

WHAT IS HALALA

“After pronouncing Talaq, the wife becomes haram for the husband. If he wants to remarry the same woman, the rules are set – once the mandatory Iddat period of three months and 13 days gets over, the woman has to get married to someone else. This marriage has to be consummated. After the second husband divorces the woman, the first husband is free to marry her once again after three months and 13 days. However, Halala-fixing is strictly prohibited in Islam. “Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangimahali

For more details click here: Moderate Muslims

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