#this is why 'dean is a raging misogynist' never works for me

[monstermoviedean]

i'm not saying dean hasn't said or done some shitty things but for me. for me. i think if someone said "hey that hurt my feelings" or "that's fucked up man" he would immediately stop, apologize, and cease that behavior in the future. and that doesn't have to matter to other people but it does matter to me.

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

So I watched 10.09 recently, and it has that part where Dean tells a story about him basically being almost roofied as a teen, but somehow it ends up framed as the funny joke and yet another proof that John "did what he could", and I kind of hate this? And it's the same episode in which MoC!Dean killed guys that kidnapped and tried to rape Claire, and you'd think writers would've addressed the parallels and acknowledge that Dean could've been triggered by this situation. 1/2

2/2 But in the end, it's never addressed, and the whole situation is framed as the proof that Dean is evil now. And I'm not even sure what I am trying to say, but with that being the show's approach back in s10, I'm not surprised about the finale anymore. Guess we should've known?

That’s an excellent angle to look at the issue because the Mark of Cain arc is a clear example of how people with different experiences will see the same thing in wildly different ways. There’s this phase of season 10 where everyone is like “oh no Dean is Getting Worse” and when you look at what Dean is doing... you actually go “...good for him”.

Let’s give Caesar what belongs to Caesar. It’s not “the writers” in this case, it’s Dabb. Plenty of other writers don’t fall into this John apologism thing. Just look at how the episode before Lebanon, written by Buckner and Ross Leming, says that sometimes John would temporarily kick Dean out because he was “pissed at him” despite Dean always taking his side to mantain the peace. It almost seems like a statement to sprinkle some salt given what Dabb does in Lebanon, you know? Maybe not, but there is a tension between “John was shitty” writers and “John did his best” writers.

In hindsight, we gave Dabb too much of the benefit of the doubt. We were like, weeell, that’s supposed to be way the characters perceive the truth, which is distorted by the trauma... But now it’s obvious that he truly believed in the John-did-his-best version. He brought him back and got Mary back with him. No matter what happened to the finale, the network didn’t print those pictures of John and Mary to hang on Sam’s wall. He never took Dean’s abuse seriously and it shows.

The “anedocte” of Dean getting drugged and “saved” by John from being raped is obviously there to parallel him with Claire. Which works! It’s so weird because it’s like. You are soooo close to getting the point. Younger Dean was assaulted just like this teenage girl is assaulted and Dean saves her... but apparently John yelling at those people is a good way of dealing with the issue, while murdering child traffickers is an overraction thus bad.

That’s the problem, isn’t it? That Dean’s murder spree is framed as an overreaction. Sam is like “tell me you had to do this! tell me it was you or them!” - the answer to which (by the narrative) is obviously no, it wasn’t self defense, he just killed them because he could. He just murdered those men for no reason except he felt like being murdery. And the audience is supposed to be like “oh no! Dean is murdery for no reason except for murderiness! That’s bad!”.

But it’s a power fantasy, isn’t it? Going on a murder spree on rapists and traffickers. I bet any people who’s been violated like that has fantasized of doing the exact thing Dean does here. Killing them all.

Dean had the physical strength and skill to kill them all, why shouldn’t he kill them? (I mean, in real life I’m against private justice because I’m a fan of the state of law, but the Supernatural universe obviously works on different principles than the state of law. Again, it’s a fictional narrative that plays out as a fantasy for the audience, so.)

So what was Dabb’s intention? I’m afraid it’s the worst one. “John Winchester’s not going to win any Number One Dad awards, you know? But, you know, damn if he wasn’t there when we needed him”. What the fuck, Dabb? It’s been established since season 1 that John WASN’T there when they needed him. Which... I’m afraid... leads us to the Cas-Claire plot in the episode. Cas has fucked off with Jimmy’s body leaving Claire on her own. Parallels how John wasn’t going to win wny Number One Dad awards. But! Cas is there when Claire Really Needs Him i.e. when she’s about to be raped by older men. Parallels how John was there when Dean Really Needed Him i.e. when he was about to be raped by older men.

I think the point is to say, Cas kinda sucked because he took Claire’s dad away but hey! He’s actually a good figure for Claire because he gets there in time to prevent her from being raped. Just like (ew) John kinda sucked as a father because hunting and stuff, but hey! He’s actually a good figure for Dean because he got there in time to prevent him from being raped.

It’s pretty yucky. Literally NOBODY wanted a parallel between Cas and John. But he made one. And he made one to absolve Cas from the guilt he carried for what he did to Claire (Claire’s mother is a mother so who fucking cares about her. She’s basically a Blurry Wife(TM), she’s only a tool for Claire’s arc, Cas apparently only cares about the harm he did the child, not the wife, for some reason.) and to absolve Cas from his guilt it absolves John too. Don’t worry, being a parent is hard. You often screw up. But you can *looks at smudged writing on hand* prevent the kid from being raped by predatory adults and everything’s fine now.

It’s not really important if the child suffered hunger or whatever, the only important thing is that they don’t get raped, because that’s bad, everything else is just a little detail.

All Dabb got with that scene was to paint Sam as extremely unsympathetic because he’s no longer a child, he’s a full adult now and still thinks of that episode at the CBGB as a funny story. That’s not a good look. It almost makes you think that the writer himself saw it as a funny story. Lol teenage boy biting more than he can chew. But then why the Claire parallel? The Claire scene onviously is not supposed to be anything but horrific. I'll give Dabb the benefit of the doubt on this specific thing.

It’s weird, yes, because Dabb wrote Dark Side of the Moon where he establishes that John was a bad husband/father even before tragedy hit the family. But apparently that’s the “not going to win any Number One Dad awards” part, I suppose? I guess he intended to write John as this flawed, ~complex~ figure who was imperfect but still brave and whatever blah blah did his best blah blah. I’m all for flawed complicated characters but a horrible father is a horrible father. A rose by any other name... parental abuse is still parental abuse even if the poor guy was complicated and traumatized and did what he thought he had to do to prepare his sons for a violent world.

Also, the story frames Dean’s escapade as a teenager being stupid. “You know what he got for that? Me whining about how much he embarrassed me. Me telling him that I hated him. But then he stopped and turned around looked at me and said, Son, you don’t like me? That’s fine. It’s not my job to be liked.” “It’s my job to raise you right.” This seems straight from a novel about teenagers doing something stupid that they’re too young to realize that their parents are right to be against them doing. But this isn’t just... a parent walking into a bar to stop their child to drink alcohol. Dean literally describes feeling sick from something that was inside the alcohol.

Sure, it makes sense that he’d lash out to John because of the shame and shock. But the scene is... off. Are we supposed to see this as a typical teenage mistake? Are we supposed to read it as something as horrific as what happened to Claire, literally sold into rape? Or, worse, are we supposed to see what happened to Claire as a teenage mistake, ah silly teenager, blindly trusting shady people, no wonder you end up in a situation where you’d get raped if a father figure didn’t sweep in and save you. I hope that wasn’t the intent.

To get back to Dean’s Mark-of-Cain violence, the writers clearly didn’t intend it to come from the Darkness up to a certain point. It was supposed to an arc about your own inner darkness (consider the Charlie episode, a couple episodes later). Then they came up with the idea of The(TM) Darkness, the suppressed cosmic feminine. While it caused a bit of dissonance in the subtext, it doesn’t really change Dean’s narrative, because his inner darkness is the trauma, and his trauma is inherebtly tied to the “feminine” i.e. the parts of him that don’t fit seamlessly into the scheme of toxic masculinity values. That the violence that comes from the Mark of Cain comes from Dean himself and that’s it, or is connected to the Darkness, it doesn’t change what it means for Dean. Dean and Amara have parallel histories, the feminine principle locked away, the trauma the anger stems from.

In 10x09 we’re still in the Before The (TM) Darkness era, before the suppressed cosmic feminine. The Mark of Cain arc is still about... well, Cain. But the shift is the signal that someone looked at Dean’s arc and said... you know what? “Lucifer gave me this curse so now I’m demonic and murdery” is meh. “Toxic masculinity suppresses the feminine and it creates trauma which rage and violence comes from” is more interesting. I don’t know whose idea it was, but it was a good idea, and surely the idea came from seeing how Dean’s MoC narrative was unfolding.

Dean’s MoC narrative was unfolding in a certain way, in fact, because of a pretty simple reason. There’s a fundamental tension in Dean’s MoC arc. We want him to go murdery, but it’s also our main character, so we don’t want him to do really horrible things because he still needs to be relatable. The audience cannot hate him, so he must NOT do something entirely unforgivable. He still needs to be somewhat relatable, even when demonic or demonic-adjacent.

So he goes on a murder spree... but it’s rapists and child traffickers. He’s demon, but he kills a misogynistic dude that wanted his wife dead for cheating on him. He’s a demon, but beats up dudes that harass women. He does a slaughter, but they’re nazi. He’s off the deep end, but works a case of kidnapped and abused young women...

Speaking of which. 10x23, written by Jeremy Carver. Dean works a case where a girl was killed while dressed scantily and Dean makes some slut-shaming remarks, and we’re supposed to think “whoa Dean, that’s bad”. But later he confronts the girl’s father and what does he say?

I’m just doing my job, Mr. McKinley.

By suggesting my daughter was a slut?

I’ll admit that thought crossed my mind. Then I came here, and I smelled the deceit and the beatings and the shame that pervade this home.

You shut your face right now.

And you know what? I don’t blame Rose anymore. No wonder she put on that skank outfit and went out there looking for validation, right into the arms of the monster that killed her.

Back then the episode was super controversial and everyone hated the case because of the apparent slut-shaming but I loved it! Because it’s not about the girl. It’s about Dean. Dean doesn’t think that a girl gets killed because she dresses in a miniskirt so it’s her fault. Dean is projecting on himself and he’s not actually victim blaming the girl, he’s victim blaming himself. And when he absolves the girl by putting the blame on the father... well, subtextually he’s absolving himself by putting the blame on his father. On the deceit and the beatings and the shame that pervaded his own home. He’s textually not ready to absolve himself, of course, he summons Death to ask him to kill him later, but subtextually he’s on the right path.

Rose McKinley basically did the same mistake Dean did at the CBGB when he trusted some older people who offered him drinks and the same mistake Claire did when she trusted a man who sold her for money because he offered him a place and stability. She trusted the wrong people (in this case, vampires, which adds the whole subtext of vampires and sexuality) who took advantage of her. Except Rose had no one to save her. (Her friend, Crystal, gets rescued by Dean, even if he causes the other hunter Rudy to die in the process.)

Carver’s writing is pretty brutal. The girl made that mistake because was abused at home, so she was desperate for validation and that desperation drove her into the wrong hands. (Rose even has a brother who blames himself for bringing her sister to her future murderers, destructive sibling relationship check.) It doesn’t actually even matter if Dean guessed right about Rose’s family situation, because what matters is what it tells us about Dean. He basically relates to a dead abused girl. Actually all through the season Dean is paralleled to “skanks” “sluts” and sex workers. Obviously this happens kinda all through the show, the whole “the business is based on absent fathers” thing happened much earlier in the story, so it’s not new. But s10 draws a picture of female suffering - abuse, manipulation and death. Season 10 was difficult to go through. In hindsight, it was probably on purpose because it was supposed to be darkest hour of the feminine. Summed with some good old fashioned misogyny, but hey.

The Carver era was wonky but Carver wanted to free the feminine. (I believe that Mary’s comeback, while written by Dabb because of the showrunner shift, was planned before the showrunner shift.) We thought the Dabb era wanted the same, with Mary choosing life and Amara being independent and so on, but it evidently wasn’t the case. Not a single woman arrives at end of the story. It’s hardly ~Bucklemming or ~the network or ~covid because it starts before the very end.

I’m not saying that dead sluts are more feminist than living women, but if the women die or disappear anyway (and they did) I’d rather have an exploration of trauma than nothing. And I definitely prefer a dead slut narrative that calls out parental abuse than a narrative where women live but abuse gets the you-did-your-best treatment.

Whoops! I digressed! But feel free to ask for any clarification or send me any observation or thought.

[creative-ive]

Yeezus by Kanye West (Album Review)

Yeezus by Kanye West

Kanye West’s 6th studio album Yeezus starts off with an ear-shattering noise like a robot being killed or sacrificed. “Yeezy season approaching,” the first words spoken give us a glimpse of the culture shift that was about to be brought upon us. His album, you either loved or hated… no in-between really. Kanye pursued to separate himself from the lack luster mainstream music going on right now. He chose no radio single. No huge marketing campaign. DONDA (his creative company) designed a marketing plan to use only the power of the internet and the creativity amongst die-hard Kanye fans. Who traveled distances to see the projections of “New Slaves” all around the world. The creation of “Please Add Graffiti” gave fans an opportunity to create an album cover out of the clear glass case with nothing but a simple red-orange sticker. With songs like “Black Skinhead” that have a dark, rebellious, and tribal influence raging against racism and establishments. Kanye being a successful African American as he is in a white-dominant culture creates the analogy that a white woman at the top floor with him would cause havoc to the point where they military would have to come in and kill King Kong. Although, it is the most dark-toned album Kanye has released to date it is also his most comedic and sexual one.

“I Am A God,” one of the most controversial songs of all time is essentially a masterpiece. He never does say he IS god. Simply a God amongst many while a man of God at the same time exemplifying that he is also able to fall to sin as other humans are. Again, “New Slaves” became the most talked about song (behind Kendrick Lamar’s Control) in various cities all over the world. Racism, corporations, greed, one-percenters, fashion, and black people all discussed and brought to life in this song. Kanye portrays himself as the epitome of an elusive and enslaving economic fantasy that is chased by black people their entire lives. Kanye holds himself to the level of Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, Henry Ford, Picasso, Basquiat, etc. Although, many might scoff at the idea of Kanye being at that level, only to call him arrogant are wrong. Kanye has differentiated himself from other rappers to call become a creative genius and in the position of power he’s at in culture he has every right too. With 21 Grammy’s, 1 away from Stevie Wonder, it is difficult to deny his influence.

“I’m in it,” is his most sexual song yet conscious battle between women, civil rights, the night-life that conflicts with his wife-and-kids life he has now. Then comes, “Blood On The Leaves” to what I believe is the strongest work on the entire album. From production TNGHT, 88 Keys, Kanye, Mike Dean, 6 July, Arca, monster line-up to sample “Strange Fruit,” (a Nina Simone’s cover of Billie Holiday’s classic song). It is one of the most politically driven songs of all time and Kanye chose to rap about past relationships which could have parallels within. “When I would hold you, before the blood on the leaves” is used to define sacrifice which could be a reference to a relationship that couldn’t handle the life of a rock star or his mother who passed away in 2007 due to plastic surgery who was stolen from him by the limelight of media. The outro essentially is the most intriguing aspect he’s waiting for the “summer rose” which is a metaphor for hopelessness of heartbreak after all other roses have died. From the poem “The Last Rose of Summer” by Thomas Moore, he plucks the last roses’ pedals to leave it from being lonely. “Guilt Trip,” is the after effects of a rough relationship and the guilt from sacrificing someone. It’s ironic that former G.O.O.D. Music member Kid Cudi harmonizes “if you love me so much then why’d you let me go?” when he actually left for his own label Wicked Awesome Records. This is when the heaven analogy starts to become more concrete with “Send It Up” whose beat is compared to that of 2003 “In da Club” by 50 Cent. “Tight dress dancing close to him, Yeezus just rose again” are his final words of the song which creates (possibly) this big phallic metaphor in which he refers to his penis as Yeezus since the attractive girl grinds on it literally causing it to “rose” or rise. It being the most sexual album to date and he’d much “rather be a dick than a swallower,” it makes sense. Also, sending it up Yeezus rose/ascended to heaven which would explain why “Bound 2” sounds more soulful than the rest of the entire album. Kanye was Bound 2 heaven. To fall in love finally after a seemingly lost Kanye throughout many failed relationships finally finding Kim Kardashian.

My favorite line is “Close your eyes and let the word paint a thousand pictures, One good girl is worth a thousand bitches,” which shows the growth of Kanye over time from his misogynistic views and paints the picture for those lost in the idea that lots of women is more satisfying. Kanye’s been talking to Jesus for so long, it finally seems like he’s talking back.

Overall, sonically this album has changed the entire music landscape and already sees early influences in Childish Gambino’s Because The Internet, Beyoncé’s surprise album with no marketing whatsoever. Changing what a ‘feature’ on an album really means. He’s a leader, not a follower. He continues transcending the genre countless times since he’s arrived in the industry. It is fitting that Yeezus deserves a Grammy/Best Album of the year for its daring and bold risks calls against corporate, racism, and various themes in a minimalistic Rick Rubin assisted piece of work. The Yeezus Tour has drawn millions of people to see the art that is his performance; including countless high-profile celebrities. 

Its cover art has become iconic. Its clear jewel case keeps it from being damaged but the gem remains to be seen in complete display. 

Art in an essence does require a frame.

By Erik De La Cruz

https://erikthegenius.com/

Originally published on December 30, 2013.

[fromtheringapron]

Reviewing Google Audience Reviews of WWE Raw

One day, I searched Monday Night Raw on Google for reasons even unbeknownst to me. What is it out of boredom? A sliver of hope that I’d discover Raw had been canceled and replaced with a rebooted Prime Time Wrestling? I don’t know, but I did stumble upon some treasure in my aimless journey: Google Audience Reviews of Raw! This is apparently a new feature to Google. It allows people like you and I to give our baseless, uninformed opinions on any TV show at any time. Isn’t the Internet great?

But, man, if that wasn’t good enough, the real treasure are the reviews themselves. Such an intriguing look into the jaded, ignorant, infuriating, hilarious, and naive group of folks who make up WWE’s fanbase. The thing about the Internet, for better or worse, is that it gives a platform for all sorts of people to voice their opinion, even on a silly wrestling show. However, I’d like to think that also means it gives me the platform to give my opinion on their opinion. There are countless Raw reviews in this new section of Google, but here are a few that have really caught my eye:

Review #27: The AEW Truther

Okay, I’ll start out by sussing out some bullshit: All Elite Wrestling has a lot of promise, but we need to stop with the narrative that they’re going to be breathing down the WWE’s neck right out of the gate. They haven’t even put on their first show and don’t have a TV deal. In addition, outside of the diehard Internet fans and wrestling journalists, the casual fan who tunes into Raw isn’t going to give a fuck about AEW, mainly because they haven’t heard of it. So, no, “us Pro Wrestling fans” aren’t just going to turn to that. Again, it’s got potential and the excitement over it is valid, but I can’t help but feel the ones hyping it up the most will be the first to voice their disappointment when it doesn’t match even a fraction of what they expected.

With all of that said, I absolutely agree with this fan on the egregiousness of WWE putting an actual fascist dickhead and a convicted rapist into their Hall of Fame, especially when there’s inexplicably more rage geared toward the likes of Koko B. Ware and Torrie Wilson getting inducted, two people who were company employees for several years. I’m usually never the one to be up in arms over who gets inducted in the Hall of Fame because it’s a fake hall for a fake sport at the end of the day, but I do earnestly believe the focus should be on the workers who clocked in the hours.

Review #352: The Benoit Truther

Look, even though many will disagree, it’s okay for you to think Daniel Bryan sucks. Everyone has their own unique set of faves and least faves, and yours is no less valid than anyone else’s. Consensus in the fan community is boring, anyway.

Well, within reason anyway, because I’d like to think that the probability of Chris Benoit rotting in Hell right now is something we can all agree on. And, honestly, still listing Benoit as the greatest of all time feels wrong on a deep, moral level. The dude did some great things in his career, yes, but that’s besides the point. That doesn’t cancel out that he murdered his wife and son. Is defending the name of someone who will always be associated with a slaughtered family a hill you really want to fight on?

I don’t want to make it seem a comment like this is totally uncommon. It’s not much different from the various Youtube comments that linger on to this day about how Benoit should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. It still infuriates me though, largely because it feeds into the cesspool of Benoit apologia that’s only swelled since that fateful weekend in 2007. It’s the kind of language that words Benoit as ultimately a tragic figure whose poor brain was so damaged that his crimes were practically unavoidable, an explanation that wouldn’t be afforded to him if he weren’t so widely regarded by smarky wrestling bros. And that’s a bunch of shit.

The first half of the review isn’t so bad, which is why I didn’t include it. Maybe this fan just isn’t aware of what they’re saying, and I get that, but intentions can only go so far with me. The scariest part though? 78 people found the review helpful. The most of any review I’ve seen so far.  Fuckin’ balls.

Review #658: The Anti-Bullying Crusader

Okay, so I kinda love this. It’s such a nice reminder in a time where kayfabe is long dead and the WWE roster, regardless of heel/face alignment, will post pics with each other out in the town on social media that there are still fans who eat all of this shit up. I obviously know nothing about this person, but the review conjures up the image of an ornery senior citizen sitting ringside ready to whack those dastardly heels with a cane.

The bullying argument is hilarious. We all know WWE’s anti-bullying campaign Be A Star is hypocritical, disingenuous bullshit, largely birthed out of Linda McMahon’s failed run in politics. Like, how many of their storylines involve and normalize bullying? How many times have guys like The Rock and John Cena engaged in homophobic and misogynistic taunting on-screen over the years? There’s nothing wrong with informing your younger viewers on why bullying in real life is wrong, but you can’t deny the WWE has certainly trivialized the message. 

And it’s even more ridiculous when someone stops watching because of all the fake, scripted bullying on the show. Honestly, my friend, what are you expecting out of a wrestling product then? Bobby Roode vs. Heath Slater in a Handshake Contest? Also, this fan has been watching since they were five years old, no doubt remembering a more innocent time where Steve Austin would give the Stunner to someone who completely didn’t deserve that. 

I also love the last line. After bashing Raw for its bully-enabling platform, they at least concede that the ladies are killing it right now. Such an encouraging feminist stance!

Review #229: Everyone Had Fun and Nobody Got Hurt

Um, what? I do get what this fan is saying in the sense that, yes, wrestling is just play fighting, but “their policy of no violence”? Do I need to bring up that Roode/Slater handshake battle for the ages? And the wrestlers may sell fake injuries on TV all the time, but they can sustain injuries that are real as hell and carry some severe long-term repercussions. I feel like I’m being way too harsh, but come on now. If you’ve been watching since 1999, you’ve probably seen plenty of guys take unnecessary, dangerous bumps that shorten their careers. Watching even a small bit of Mick Foley’s work can probably tell you that.

With that said, I do love the refreshing stance in loving wrestling because it’s scripted. People usually hate on wrestling for that reason alone, largely because the business has historically gone to great lengths to make it seem real. It’s great to have someone who basically says, “You know, this is scripted bullshit and I’m okay with it.” And honestly, girl, I feel the same way. We need more people like us.

Review #44: Garden Variety Lapsed Fan #15,712

This certainly is a take. I can’t comment on what it’s like in other fandoms, but so many wrestling fans love to engage in the narrative that WWE stopped being good a long while ago and the current product is the worst it’s ever been but because they’re such a diehard fans they’ll stick around until it gets good again and willingly suffer through all of it due to the innate goodness in their hearts or some shit. The only difference in each of these arguments is that the date of the tipping point always changes. There are fans right now who’ll tell you WWE circa 2019 is the worst it’s ever been, but this was also true back when I first started traversing the Internet back in 2004 or 2005 and fans then were talking how that period was the worst it had ever been.

With that in mind, I find this review a bit refreshing in the face of Attitude Era truthers, who’ll repeatedly tell you wrestling, and seemingly all of pop culture, stopped being good sometime in the early 2000s. But as we near closer and closer to 20 years since that era ended, the more likely we are to see younger fans who have no real nostalgia for it. It won’t be long until we hear more and more talk about the salad days of Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, and others. This fan says WWE stopped being good in late 2016/early 2017, which obviously wasn’t that long ago. I’m sure some fan daydreaming about the days of the Monday Night Wars would find this completely baffling.

It begs the question: when exactly was the WWE good? Has it ever been good? I don’t think any one answer is the sole correct one. None of these perspectives are invalid by any means. Every era of wrestling has had its pros and cons, and everyone has their own set of standards on what they consider a quality wrestling product. And, to be real, I don’t want to excuse the WWE of their shitty, at times irredeemable, booking and creative decisions. Fans have been driven away for numerous, valid reasons over the years.

But there’s that whole notion that nothing can ever bring back those early feelings of puppy love, and that’s just as true with the way wrestling first captivates you. Perhaps the constant frustration with present day WWE is partly the inability to rekindle what first hooked you in and never being able to recapture that feeling because, well, it’s simply not possible.

Review #788: Our Savior

We are not worthy of this review. A true diamond in the rough. So many good bits here. The prediction that Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose will compete in a “no holes barred” match, which sounds like something out of a Sean Cody wrestling parody. The invention of the “Tang Tang Championship” featuring the likes of “Pop Scott Dulson and his tag team partner." The referring of Baron Corbin as not only “Barry Korgan,” but also as “Brian Corbin.” The passage that merely says “All winding.” The passage that merely says “Bobby Lashley.” That it’s not even a review of Raw, the TV show, but more a comment on the existential nihilism we feel in the Trump era.

I’ve never seen a review that makes no sense but also says so much. I love the complete refusal of punctuation marks. Who needs those archaic things, anyway? It just makes it all one, continuous thought, a stream of consciousness that could make even James Joyce blush. I also dig the experimentation with spacing. After all, why do we need to just one space? Why not several? It’s important to give our thoughts the space they need and this fan understands that. Plus, it makes for poetic reading.

The review ends on an ominous note, with the fan’s last message being “My name Matthewhisee.” Is this meant to be a threat? A coded message of some sort? Matthewhisee, if that is your name, please let us know more. The world needs your insight. Oh, and to the 7 people who found this review helpful, you are the vanguards of the resistance. Bless you all.

[ukulelewrites]

In Terms of Fire & Ice {7}

A/N: y’all, i’m officially back from haitus two months after i said i would and i’m sorry for disappearing! i just got run over by responsibilities and life ^-^;;;;;;;;;; but please enjoy the latest installment of in terms!

Pairing: Wanna One’s Seongwoo x Reader

Genre: Angst, fuckboi!seongwoo, rich!seongwoo, enemies to lovers!au

Word Count: Roughly 2k

Parts: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7

“So, how was the date?” Nayoung asked as the two of you stood side by side in the cramped bathroom; she was leaning against the sink, watching you remove your makeup intently.

“Can you not stare a hole into my temple, please?” you retorted. Your mascara was proving to be difficult to remove. “And it wasn’t a date. It was just me paying back on a favor.”

“Y/N, the moment you came back, your hair a mess, your clothes covered in grass, and that,” she jabbed at the bruise blooming on your collarbone, “it was confirmed a date.”

“Well, we did do some,” you paused, “date-like things, but it wasn’t a date.”

“Well, what are those date-like things, Miss Y/N?”

“Yeah,” you said softly, leaning yourself closer in to him, “you can kiss me.” With those words whispered, Seongwoo closed the gap between the two of you. At first you didn’t register the kiss. It was something foreign to you. After years of no practice, you seemed to have forgotten exactly how to conduct yourself. As your brain goes into overdrive on how to react to the kiss, your body freezes.

“Nervous?” he murmured against your lips. You could feel his lips forming a smirk, brushing fleeting touches against yours.

“Shut up,” you mumbled back, ‘before I change my mind.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice, princess.” He leaned back in to capture your lips, bringing his hand up to cup your cheek. You shut your eyes tight, slowly finding yourself reciprocating. Seongwoo gently pushes you back until you feel your back hitting the mattress. You moved your hands to the back of his neck, trailing them upwards to thread into his hair. It seemed like all of your perfectly practiced self control had flung itself out the window the moment you realized exactly how long ago you last kissed someone, and it maybe also has to do with the fact the asshole that was trailing his hands down your body also happened to be a very good kisser.

Your mind was a flurry of trailing thoughts, hazy with ideas of where exactly was this night leading. His lips moved against yours languidly, breaking away every now and then, only to return to their previous motion after hearing you whine. Seongwoo was still hovering over you, but he shifts his legs, wedging one between yours. The hand that had found purchase on the curve of your neck moved its way down, fumbling with the buttons of your dress. You didn’t notice exactly what he was doing until he reached the third button and the cold suddenly hit your bare skin.

“H-hey, what are you doing?” you asked nervously, pushing yourself up. Seongwoo didn’t seem to hear you as his hands continued their ministrations. “Stop it!” you exclaimed, shoving his hands away from you. Your face started to heat up, and you quickly blinked away the tears that threatened to fall from your eyes. “Of course,” you thought, “of course this is why he asked you out.”

You began to button your dress back up with trembling hands. “If you just wanted an easy lay, you could’ve asked another girl out,” you said, surprised by the steeliness of your voice. Once your top button was refastened, you stood up, smoothed down your dress and glared at Seongwoo. “I can’t believe your actual nerve, Ong.” For a split second, you almost thought you saw fear cross his eyes, but you weren’t an idiot. This was Seongwoo you were dealing with; that guy knew exactly how to play with someone’s heart, and you thought yourself way too smart to fall for his ploy. “Take me back to the school,” you said. When you realized he was still rooted to his seat, you uttered, “Please,” your voice wavering slightly.

“Hey, Y/N,” Seongwoo finally got up, “princess, I didn’t mean to go that far.” He tried cupping your cheek, but you turned away.

“But you did go that far,” you snapped, “I’m not just something you can use as you please, jackass. I actually thought you were interested in me and wanted to go on a date, but no, you’re just after my goddamn fucking virginity!” You were raging at this point, all the angry words that jumped around your brain came tumbling out of your mouth. “Now I’m here feeling like an absolute idiot knowing I’m just another one of your trophies! I fucking hate you!” Those last four words were accentuated by you jabbing your pointer finger into his chest.

“Y/N,” he said as he grabbed your wrist, “can you just listen to me?” You tried pulling away. “Y/N, please?” You continued trying to escape from his steel grasp. “Y/N!”

“What?” you spat back, “I’m not one of your playthings, Ong. Your lies won’t work on me.”

“But I’m not going to lie to you.” You scoffed at his statement. “Y/N, listen, you know how many girls I’ve been with? A lot.”

“You’re not really helping your case.”

“No, hear me out. Look, I’ve been with a lot of girls, but none of them make me feel the way I feel about you.”

“Wow, how romantic,” you mock-swooned, “I really want you to just,” you paused before deadpanning, “ fuck off right now.”

“You know how goddamn scared you make me? I can’t act around you like I do with other girls, okay? You see right through me. And I’m sorry I went to far, but you drive me absolutely insane. All I could think about when I was kissing you was-”

“What?” you asked, “Stripping me of my virginity? Wow, I really want to punch you in the face right now.”

“No. I was thinking how, for once, I actually felt something besides lust while kissing you. I swear this is the gayest shit I have ever uttered in my entire life, and Daniel will roast me into oblivion. But,” he took a deep breath, “Y/N, I really like you, and I know you’re pissed beyond my comprehension right now, but I’m telling you the absolute truth. I am 100% head over heels attracted to you. I’m attracted to the way your brows furrow when you’re solving a problem in math. I’m attracted by how your tongue slightly sticks out when you’re organizing files at work. I’m attracted to how intimidated you make me feel, how you actually call me out on the misogynistic bullshit I accidentally end up doing or saying. I am wholeheartedly attracted to you. Just give me another chance to not fuck it up?”

“What did you say?” Nayoung asked, now that the two of you were lounging in your respective beds.

“I told him if he really liked me, he’d pull a page from every other asshat who went after me and just leave me alone,” you grumbled, shifting under your blankets.

“Even after he declared his wholehearted affection for you?”

“The guy’s a professional casanova. Of course he’d say lies like that to get me into trusting him, only to lure me into his bed and leave me the moment he gets what he wants.”

“And what exactly does he want?” she teased. You sat up to give your friend an unamused look. “What?” she asked, “You never know, he could like you.”

“Yeah right,” you snorted, “and I like him.”

Monday morning came about quickly, and Seongwoo had not messaged you since the “date” Saturday. Even though you kept yourself angry at the certain raven-haired boy, you couldn’t help but check your phone all throughout Sunday for something. Maybe it was that part of you that hoped maybe he did mean it and would try even harder to win you over. But again, it’s Ong you were thinking of. He could’ve easily found some other girl; someone easier, someone who would give him just what he wanted. Those thoughts made you scoff, angry at the thought of possibly trusting him. Yet, you found yourself with that ugly green monster making itself at home in your mind, obsessively checking his social media for any form of another female to occupy him for that one day he left you in silence. But nothing popped up. “It was as if his dick could actually control itself for a day,” you mused as you walked into the mathematics building...only to stop abruptly at the sight that laid before you.

The male underclassmen were lined up on either side of the hallway, each one holding onto a small envelope. You spied Seongwoo’s group of friends standing at the end of the hallway, beckoning for you to walk towards them. You finally regained control over your feet and began walking towards your classroom.  The underclassmen handed you their envelopes and suddenly the intercom clicked on.

“Attention, Evanson students,” Seongwoo’s voice rung out, “before Dr. Harris realizes I’m hijacking the morning announcements, I would like to say something to a very special person. Y/N L/N, I am sorry. Like, I acknowledge I’m an asshat who treated you like any other girl I usually go after when you are so much more to me than an easy lay. No offense to those girls, but like, sorry, it’s true. You mean way too much to me for me to just let you get away, so in a very extra way, I apologize, and hopefully you’ll find it in yourself to forgive me and give me another chance. Plus, I hope you open all those envelopes in secret; I’d rather not lose my manhood today. Actually, do whatever you want, just please give me another chance. And-”

His voice was cut off by a loud screech, indicating Dr. Harris had indeed realized he had hijacked the morning announcements.

“What did the envelopes say?” Nayoung asked, eyeing the stack you clutched tightly in your hands. The two of you were walking back to the dorms after eighth period, passing by the dean’s office on the way.

“I think that’s for me and him to know,” you cheekily stated, motioning your head to the dean’s office where Seongwoo now sat, probably getting the lecture of the era. Nayoung gave you a funny look before simply shrugging and making her way towards the dorms, leaving you to wait outside the dean’s office.

Fifteen minutes passed before Seongwoo emerged from the office, looking completely drained of energy. “Y-Y/N, um, hey,” he said sheepishly, “I see you got the envelopes.”

“Yeah,” you looked at the boy that stood in front of you. The usual confidence was gone. He averted your gaze, choosing to look at the linoleum floors instead. “Look, did you mean everything you said in these notes?” you inquired. He nodded slowly. “All 206 of them?” you pressed.

“You kept count?” he asked, that telltale smirk emerging. You faltered, trying to find a reason for keeping count without letting on too quickly he was forgiven.

“W-well, we didn’t do anything in econ today, so-” your lie was cut off when he enveloped you in a hug.

“God, I was so scared you’d still be upset with me,” he mumbled into your hair.

“And why would you be scared?” you asked, fully knowing why. But you needed to hear it again. You needed those words molded in his voice.

“Because I like you, and it scares me,” he said the moment he let go of you. “This is the first time I haven’t been on the receiving end,” he dryly laughed at that statement. His smile faded the longer you stayed silent. “Are you still upset?” he asked softly.

“A little,” you finally caved, “but I’m giving you another chance.” He lit up at those words. “But,” his smile died down, “it has to be on my terms. Agree?” He nodded eagerly. “Good, you’re doing all the coffee runs at internship this week. You have to walk me to all of my classes,” you paused to think of the run he’d have to do for your fourth period class, “All. And, you cannot engage physical contact with me for a week. No hugs, hand holding, nothing. But, I can engage with you. Can you handle that, Ong?” The smirk that graced his lips threw you for a loop.

“Anything for you, princess.”

“Good, if you can handle that, consider yourself forgiven.”

[magnoliasinbloom]

Awake

Previously

*** Possible trigger warning ***

4: London

I flung the door away from me, not caring that Frank was right behind me.

He caught it with his palms outstretched, and the glass in the frame rattled with the force of the blow. “What were you thinking, Claire?”

“I couldn’t not respond, not when your so-called colleague is a misogynistic ass!”

* * *

We had arrived on time to another of Frank’s endless schmoozing university social functions. I was immediately whisked to the ladies’ side of the evening, and Frank went with the men. I was given a drink and found myself in a circle of women, all university wives. I watched with a bemused smile as they all held their martini, wine, and champagne glasses in the same way (left hand held aloft, right hand cupping elbow, arm across their stomachs). I listened with increasing anxiety as they discussed how difficult it was to find good household help.

Until I could take it no more.

I drifted away to find Frank, and ask how much longer we had to endure this failed social experiment. He turned to smile distractedly at me and put a hand on the small of my back. One of the men in the group moved so I could seemingly join them.

“… and of course, the female professors arguing about the whole pay-gap thing is just preposterous!” A rumble of appreciative laughter. “Men and women are simply not equal and never will be. A woman is better off at home.”

I could feel heat rising in my face as several of the men in the group eyed me warily as they tittered at the comments.

“It was a sad day when women took up the reins of government – what a muck-up that has been!”

“I beg your pardon—”

Frank cut me off as he squeezed my waist and touched my arm firmly. “Dean Jackson, this is my wife, Claire. She’s a physician at St. Mary’s.”

“A doctor? Indeed. Where did you complete your studies?” A hint of a sneer as he sipped his drink.

“Cambridge,” I replied through gritted teeth. “However, I don’t think—”

“Pah. I’m an Oxford man myself, always have been.” Dean Jackson raised his glass in a toast and a few others did as well. “And tell me, Dr. Randall, as a physician, do you believe in this whole vaccination thing?”

The hand holding the glass trembled, while the other was tightly clenched in rage. I managed to swallow and Frank continued to pat me on the back as though I were a skittish horse.

“I think you’ll find, Dean Jackson, there is vast scientific evidence supporting  vaccination. Recently, there was an article published in The Economist about an outbreak of measles, a disease that had practically been eradicated—”

“The Economist? A medical article?” Dean Jackson sipped again and turned his back on us. As he walked away, he called over his shoulder, “Professor Randall, you should pay closer attention to your wife’s reading habits. No wonder few women succeed as physicians.”

Frank had to physically restrain me as the rest of Jackson’s entourage scurried after him; a few cast alarmed glances in my direction. Frank pulled me towards the guest bathroom and past the group of ladies who had been nonchalantly eavesdropping.

“Really, Claire, he’s the head of my department. Dean Jackson—”

“Fuck the dean.”

Several of the women gasped at my uncouth expression. I threw them a murderous glare before we reached the guest bathroom. I pushed the door open and closed it in Frank’s face.

I took deep breaths, running my hands through my hair and making it riot. My cheeks were flushed with anger; I splashed cold water on my face and sat on the lidded toilet seat.

What was the point of all this? Frank did not really approve of my work as a doctor. He resented the long, sometimes unpredictable hours of my shifts and the fact that I was not inclined to change my ways – who I bloody was – to suit him.

I was tired; after a full day of work, to have to argue with an arrogant bastard. All I wanted was to sleep. For a week.

Perchance to dream. Of him.

As though on autopilot, I pulled out my phone from my suit pocket. Found Chrome. Searched for: dun monde a lautre glasgow.

Several results immediately popped up. Mentions in reviews, a Facebook page,  and an actual website. I felt prickles up and down my spine. How could it be real? I had only ever dreamt of it—I had never set foot in Scotland.

I tapped on the website address. I saw pictures of the bookshop, the exterior façade as well as shots from inside. I had been there—in dreams.

I was elated and sick all at once. If this bookshop really did exist, it would of course logically follow that he did too.

“Excuse me, miss?”

The soft knocks at the door startled me, and I dropped my phone on the floor with a clatter. I turned off the display and stepped out of the bathroom, apologizing to the elderly woman who had been waiting.

Frank was standing by the door, our coats draped over his arm. His expression was somber as he drove us home. All the while I was thinking, Why would I go to Glasgow at all?

I didn’t even know his name.

* * *

“This is my job we’re talking about!” Frank’s raised voice brought me back from my reverie.

“We talk enough about my job as well, and how much you hate it!” I snapped, incensed.

“He’s my boss! I can’t believe you were so crass and rude—”

“I’ll give you fucking rude.” I pushed past him into the narrow hallway.

Frank grabbed my wrist and pulled, effectively stopping me in my tracks. He swung me around, and flung me against the wall. I collided against a small sturdy wooden table, the few knickknacks laid on it shuddering with the impact. I took a misstep on my high-heeled shoes—worn just for the occasion. I clipped the side of my head against the edge of the table.

As I hit the floor, the wind was knocked out of me, and it was all I could do to breathe. The pain in my head was dull, but intense; I raised my hand shakily to check for blood. None.

I slid backwards on the floor, away from Frank. I wheezed, every breath a stab at my temple. Frank was strangely silent, and when I tried to look up, I could see his eyes start to tear up, remorseful.

“Claire, I didn’t mean to—I’m sorry!” He reached out to help me up, but I slapped his hand away before he could touch me.

“Get the fuck away from me,” I hissed. Frank recoiled at my words. I struggled to rise, grasping the stupid table. Gritting my teeth, I dragged myself down the hall, holding my hand gingerly against my throbbing head.

I shut the door to our room, locking it. I wished I could move the heavy dresser across it. I thought about undressing to put on my pajamas, but I lacked the motivation. I gave up, crawling carefully onto the bed. Forget work tomorrow. I rolled on my back, breathing shallowly. I concentrated on the pain, as it dulled into a deep ache. I drifted in and out of sleep, but no dreams came.

Only tears.

[socialcoldstreams]

Should we respond to Portland riots with even more violence?

Who are Proud Boys?

In August of 2019, a group called Proud Boys traveled to Portland, Oregon with the purpose of instigating a conflict. The Proud Boys are described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white nationalist, anti-Muslim, misogynistic hate group. Other, lesser known groups with potentially similar philosophies joined them in Portland.

Please read the lengthy SPLC description above – Proud Boys is not a nice group. Their only purpose in coming to Portland was to incite violence and a riot. The Mayor said “they could not articulate why they were here” although it seems obvious: to incite a riot. They did not get a riot because Portland provided 1 police officer for every two protestors, costing local taxpayers millions of dollars in direct costs, and a significant drop in economic activity as downtown businesses closed and the city’s mass transit system was completely disrupted. The Mayor says Proud Boys intended to economically hurt the city.

In response, other groups that fall under their own self described banner of “antifa” engaged with the Proud Boys in civil disturbances (the official term used by the Portland Police).  Both groups – Proud Boys – and Antifa – are violent groups, contrary to how each attempts to spin themselves as peaceful or only responding to attacks.

Who is Antifa?

Antifa is not a particular organization nor does it have a specific ideology other than a preference to apply violence towards those they disagree with. Antifa is short hand for “anti fascist”.

CNN describes “Antifia” as assemblies of people with an often far left agenda and belief that violence is justified. As CNN quotes,

“Antifa activists feel the need to partake in violence” ….

“And so we go to cause conflict, to shut them down where they are, because we don’t believe that Nazis or fascists of any stripe should have a mouthpiece.”

The author of the Antifa Handbook and co-organizer of Occupy Wall Street writes in the Washington Post that Antifa is:

“a radical pan-leftist politics of social revolution applied to fighting the far right. Its adherents are predominately communists, socialists and anarchists who reject turning to the police or state to halt the advance of white supremacy.”

….

“Antifa are autonomous anti-racist groups that monitor and track the activities of local neo-Nazis. They expose them to their neighbors and employers, they conduct public education campaigns, they support migrants and refugees and they pressure venues to cancel white power events.

The vast majority of anti-fascist organizing is nonviolent. But their willingness to physically defend themselves and others from white supremacist violence and preemptively shut down fascist organizing efforts before they turn deadly distinguishes them from liberal anti-racists.”

Antifa did not begin with Trump. The same groups took part in the 1999 Seattle “World Trade Organization” riots and six days of rioting and property damage (to Portland businesses) after the November 2016 Presidential election, shutting down a city where 74% of voters selected Clinton, not Trump.

Those riots were over issues not involving white supremacist hate groups (the Charlottesville white supremacist rally, which many social media posts cite as justification for 2019 violence, occurred in 2017).

Time Magazine writes that “antifa” is said to lack a coherent message – some times it is about fascism, sometimes it is about capitalism, or globalism, or climate studies, or gender issues or something else.

Antifa appears to be – mostly – people who are angry at many different things and “will employ militant tactics or violent means such as vandalism”.

In other words, vigilante and mob justice from angry people – using other violent groups as an excuse for more violence.

A symbiotic relationship has formed between violent white supremacists and violent Antifa, with the former intentionally instigating conflict (by picking Portland, Oregon where there would be a large antifa response), and Antifa then responding.

What is a Fascist?

(Do also read the SPLC summary above to understand what the Proud Boys and related hate groups are about.)

The Washington Post explains fascism and notes attributes of Trump programs (“Muslim ban”, for example, or autocracy) and similar features of Mussolini’s fascism. (Many of the features apply to other political leaders, past and present too.)

What Trump “… offers is an attitude, an aura of crude strength and machismo, a boasting disrespect for the niceties of the democratic culture that he claims, and his followers believe, has produced national weakness and incompetence.”

These are traits also exhibited by Mussolini and Hitler (and other leaders).

“Fascist” As Defined on Social Media

“Fascist” as seen on social media, however, is much simpler, as Michael Kinsley explains:

“it means no more than “somebody I don’t like.” It is an all-purpose epithet, usable by anyone against everyone from university deans to Fox News anchors.”

Antifa is primarily a group of angry people. In that context, it is easy for angry people to name call others as “fascist” (or a Nazi, as the two terms are used interchangeably on angry social media posts). Once the enemy is delineated as sub-human, any response goes.

Antifa, itself, adopts some of the methods of fascism (see #3, “Glorification of violence and readiness to use it in politics”, #4 “Fetishization of youth” and appeal to youth, #8 “Self-definition by opposition” and #10 “…tendency to purge the disloyal” as elements adopted by Antifa, but note they do not associate with other elements of fascism.)

How Does This Relate to Social Media?

A review of tweets during and after the incidents in Portland shows that, frequently, “fascist” is, as Michael Kinsley says, name calling of someone you think you disagree with. And once you have labeled the target, anything goes. The terms “fascist” and “Nazi” are intended to dehumanize the target, thereby justifying violence against them.

This item was shared into my social media feed:

I noted that as someone who has had multiple traumatic brain injuries, I found this advocacy of violent head injuries disturbing (and violates the terms of service on most social media platforms). I was then accused of being anti-Obama (confusing my 1000+ hours working to fix defects in the Affordable Care Act as “anti-Obama”) and then implied that if I was unwilling to (violently) respond to the Proud Boys in Portland, then I was a Nazi and a coward. (See #10 above, I must be purged!)

Wow.

As I reviewed hundreds of tweets on these Portland protests, I found many advocating more violence. Many, if not most,  –  contained factually incorrect information and were frequently from people with uncontrolled rage and little logic.

Many antifa supporters on social media cite the example of Portland local and white nationalist Jeremy Christian as an example of right wing murderers and violence – he is accused of murder and goes to trial in 2020 – as justification for violence in Portland. But Christian supported Bernie Sanders for President in 2016, illustrating the difficulty in categorizing targets, plus the propaganda methods of cherry picking and assertions. Some cited the mass murderer in El Paso, Texas as justification due to the shooter leaving behind a hate fueled, racist manifesto and his support of eco-fascism. There were mentions of the Gilroy mass shooting and that murderer’s alleged right wing ideology – but the FBI says reports of his alleged right wing ideology were wrong.

Others said Proud Boys kills people, citing Charlottesville (2017) but say Antifa has never killed anyone (injuries and property damage by antifa are acceptable). The families of those killed by mass murderer Connor Betts in Dayton, OH may have a different view as he supported Antifa, Sanders and Warren.

Social media is filled with “What You See Is All There Is” evidence – by leaving out conflicting information, you can pretend to prove your point, whatever it may be.

Related: Hate groups like Proud Boys are labeled “right wing” and groups like “Antifa” are labeled left wing. In reality, neither are right or left – those labels are applied for political purposes, to denigrate others and fuel more outrage.

The factually incorrect information (all sides of this) gets shared and soon becomes a “fact” (even though not true). This is, in effect, propaganda that encourages others to adopt the agendas of the parties in the conflict. Because so much of it is emotional, it leads to outrage, which in turn leads to more conflict, more anger and more violence.

Social media is ground zero in the activities of these groups espousing violence (Proud Boys, etc, Antifa).

The extreme level of rage present in many of these posts are not mentally healthy for the poster or the drive by targets.

As someone whose brain has been bashed many times, conflict and rage, like that exhibited in these posts is upsetting and causes anxiety and significant discomfort for me. Undoubtedly, this occurs to others as well. This is not healthy nor is it leading to productive solutions – these posts are causing more targets to become emotionally enraged and off balance.

Social media has become a conduit for the expression of rage – and in some cases, encouraging others to actively engage in violence – often based on falsehoods passed along on social media as truth.

Rather than seek meaningful solutions, these outrage festivals lead to ever increasing violence and the spread of more (factually incorrect) propaganda messaging on social media.

Is it any wonder that Proud Boys and movements like antifa are filled with angry people?

Returning to the item above, about the accusation that I am a Nazi and a coward for not being willing to engage in violence – I am old enough to remember when progressive thinkers advocated non-violence (and were opposed to wars). Today, we have self described left wing groups saying violence is not only justified but essential. As 1999 and 2016 showed, violence is justified against anyone you disagree with, not just hate groups. It’s just angry people being violent.

If you don’t subscribe to this call to violence, then you too are a Nazi. That sounds like hate speech coming from those who oppose hate speech.

Do violent protests work?

Not often. In fact, non-violent protests are twice as effective as violent protests. Most people abhor civil violence. Protestors who engage in violence turn the public against those perpetrating the violence. Violence has not been an effective strategy, and as demonstrated empirically since 1999, has led to more violence – not workable solutions.

The violence is often misplaced – and even targets those sympathetic to their cause. Who then become less sympathetic to their cause.

If you have read this far, you hopefully see the lack of logic in social outrage. Its akin to middle school name calling and problem solving – just beat’em up and let’s beat the crap out of those who don’t join us too.

This, sadly, is the state of social media. The noise to signal ratio is high when it is flooded with such garbage and the promotion of hate and violence. Twitter, Facebook, etc, are the enablers of both right wing and left wing hate speech.

None of the actions of Proud Boys or Antifa are leading to de-escalation or solutions. Instead, each engages in activities that lead to more violent outbursts. Both groups have failed to achieve their goals. So what do they do? Engage in more outrage and more violence.

Are Their non Violent Ways to Address Racist Groups like Proud Boys?

I once lived in a town where an “Aryan Nations” group of racists obtained a parade permit. The community responded by holding half price movie showings at local theaters, half price ice skating at local ice rinks, big family events in local parks, and tremendous sales at local retailers and malls. This strategy literally sucked the oxygen out of the racist parade. There were more press people present to cover their parade than there were bystanders.

They were ignored and lacking attention they eventually faded away.

This is one way that racist hate groups can be addressed without resorting to violence. There are undoubtedly others.

Should we respond to Portland riots with even more violence? was originally published on SocialPanic

[not-in-the-box]

Army Of Invisibles

A/n: This was written for @sharingwritingprompts contest and uses the two prompts from that.

Trigger warning: there is a homophobic and trans-phobic character, I do not in anyways support her views.

“Kiera, I want you to meet my roommate, Addison.” Dean gestured towards a mid toned woman with long, brown hair in a high ponytail. The woman’s clothes were smothered in a variety of colours of chalk and old paint stains. “Addy, this is Kiera from work.”

“Kiera who brings in muffins on fridays?” Addy shook the other woman’s hand. “Dean only turns up on fridays for the muffins. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Dean laughed slightly before leaving to greet more guests.

“I found cops prefer muffins to donuts here,” Kiera chuckled. “And I had to do something to get accepted by them.”

“Why’s that then? Cause they’re sexist dickheads?” Addy asked, a slight hint of confusion reaching her pretty blue eyes. “I bet you could do the job in heels, they probably can’t say the same.”

“I dunno about doing it in heels, but it’s not sexism usually anyway.” Kiera laughed some more, letting it reach her green eyes. “Usually it’s trans-phobia I gotta be careful of.”

“You’re trans? I had, like, no idea.” Addy had never been good at hiding her surprise. “We’re both LGBTQ! That’s fab, I've never met a cop who’s not cis and straight.”

“That’s why I decided to be one, there aren’t enough of us so we don’t get protected often.” Kiera revealed.

“Don’t I know it. Us women get enough from misogynistic douchebags, without adding homophobia or transphobia.” Addy responded. The conversation continued from there into a sharing of coming out stories and how they realised.

“So your mother disowned you?” Kiera responded. “That’s harsh. She has no idea what she’s missing, you seem pretty cool to me.” “Thanks. My dad still sends me birthday cards though.” Addy beamed from the compliment. “He messages me every time Amedeus shares a new prophecy with jokes about how he’s about to save the world, along with everyone else in town.”

“Except us, the prophecies are never vague enough to include us.” Kiera pointed out. “We get left to be Damsels in distress.”

“I reckon you’d rock the princess in a tower life style.” Addy joked. “I don’t think a prince would be ready for me though.”

“I already found my prince, he keeps telling me to tell Amedeus how stupid his prophecies are.” The woman revealed. “He probably wouldn’t listen though, because we don’t exist in his eyes.”

“We’ll make him listen.” Addy flashed her perfect teeth in a mischievous grin. “Men don’t often pick up on my massive gay vibes, if I switch on the charm, he may listen to us.”

“You realise he’s like 80, right?”

“He’s still a straight man though.”

“Sounds like we have a plan then.” Kiera agreed. By the time Dean returned to their conversation, they already had their quest for equality planned.

The duo found the location Amedeus was supposed to talk with the Gods from, where his prophecies were dreamt up. His influence was large and extensive, due to his blessing, and it was common knowledge that the Gods favoured him. No one dared upset or contradict him, lest the Gods send a prophecy of punishment for them.

It wasn’t too far a journey to the mountain and they assumed he would live in one of the towns nearby. So, with a van packed ready for the road trip ahead, they set off on their adventure.

The conversation drifted from the latest prophecy (‘a man will defeat a great evil in his life and change his fate forever’), to the rumours of new shopping centres in their town. They discussed music - each hearing at least one song on the radio they loved over the course of the morning - and about why they’d chosen art or policing as careers. It was the most simplistic and easy form of bonding that either woman had ever experienced. It was with a slight pang of disappointment, that they parked up in the first of the three towns.

They decided the easiest way to find their stories villain, was to ask the locals. They were met with various reactions to the news that they were searching for the elderly man: shock, laughter, even anger. How dare these strange women dare search for the great Amedeus! Had they no shame? That was what seemed to be going through each of their minds.

“Hi, hey, um...“ Addy tried to get the attention of a small group walking past. “Could you answer one quick question please?”

“Is that the question?” One of the men mocked, eliciting a laugh from the majority of the group.

“Don’t be a douche, Matt.” A woman in black skinny jeans slapped his arm. “What’s up?”

“You’re just annoyed the pretty woman noticed me before you.” The same guy taunted, before Kiera could ask.

“Unlike you, I don’t think about someone as a potential romance before being nice to them.” The girl responded, before turning fully towards Addy. “Anyway, what was your question?”

“We were wondering if you could point us in the direction of Amedeus?” Kiera answered, whilst Addy tried to deflate her big head after the compliments on her appearance.

“Amedeus? Why?” The woman asked. “That old fool doesn’t deserve the attention of gorgeous women like yourselves.”

“Thanks,” Addy finally regained her composure. “We wanted to talk to him about how stupid his prophecies are.”

“You don’t argue with Amedeus.” One of the others in the group interjected. The others seemed to all nod or mutter in agreement. “And you should be careful calling him a fool, Reyne. We all know what happened to the last person who did that.” More nods of agreement.

“You’ve got to exist to receive prophesied punishments, so I think i’m safe.” Reyne joked. “Anyway, Amedeus isn’t in town at the moment. He doesn’t spend long her, but he does visit sometimes. I think he’s in the next town over. I can show you a shortcut there, if you want.”

“That would be absolutely brilliant!” Addy got excited, seeming to confirm the growing suspicion in Kiera that she liked this girl.

“Then it’s settled, I’ll go join you on your quest to defeat Amedeus. I can be both of you’s trusty sidekick.” Reyne decided. “It’s only an hours journey in a car, which’ll give us time to get to know each other.” She winked at Addy, making her dark cheeks warm.

“Reyne…” The group tried to stop her, but she was already following Addy down the road to the van. Kiera was moments behind them, having to process what just happened and the probable thoughts about how dodgy it looked that Reyne was now climbing into two strangers van.

Reyne’s estimation of an hour turned out to be pretty accurate and - with Kiera driving - gave the other two time to get acquainted, as promised. The time flew by, and Kiera seemed to wake them from a trance when they arrived. They took a similar approach as in the last town, of asking anyone who’d stop to listen. Reyne’s presence seemed to somehow increase their luck though, maybe it was that she seemed to know literally everyone. She’d explain how she went to school with this one, and that guy was her ex, and that was her aunt’s best-friend, and that was her cousin, or her nephew, or her half-brother. Addy and Kiera were completely dumbfounded by the amount of people she knew.

She finally managed to gather information from enough people to conclude that he’d left town to head back to his home that morning. They’d missed him by a few hours. From the directions of a group of teens, they found the quickest route would take them only two and a half hours if they kept going.

It was, however, in this town that they gained the support of a group who decided to travel with them, deeming their cause worthy of the journey. By the time they left town, there was fifteen people traveling in the van and a car following behind, all of them driven by rage at the different discrimination they faced at Amedeus hands - if he even acknowledged their existence at all.

The two and a half hours were filled by debates and excitement over the coming confrontation with the great Amedeus. Mutters of fear were occasionally heard briefly, before being quashed by the reminder that if not them, then who would stand up to him. Reyne had repeated the phrase “He’s an elderly man, what’s he gonna do?” and Addy had reiterated multiple times “The Gods wouldn’t let us exist if they really hated us for who we are.” Both seemed to reassure the uncertainties of the group in the van.

When they arrived in town, it was decided that they should split into three smaller groups and talk to locals for an hour before meeting in the square. Each group headed in different directions with the mission of finding out as much about Amedeus as possible. “Any information’s useful.” Kiera reminded them repeatedly.

Reyne didn’t know as many locals in this town, and her charms didn’t seem to work now that her attention was focussed more on reading Addy’s reaction to her. Addy’s charms had taken a hit to, much for a similar reason. That left Kiera and the other two in their group to do the real work, while the lovebirds were oblivious to the fact they just needed to kiss already. By the end of the hour, they’d managed to find out that Amedeus had passed through town that afternoon. No one seemed to know where - or at least they weren’t willing to say.

They arrived at the meeting point to find that the other groups had found much the same information - along with a few new members - except for one addition to a group who revealed there may be a village nearby that wouldn’t be on any maps.

“He passes through here often, saying he’s going home.” The man explained. “Locals call it God’s Village, because only those who are chosen know where it is.”

“Being chosen by who? Amedeus?” Kiera asked what the majority of them had been thinking. “Who can we ask to lead us there?”

“A friend’s mother went there once, but I don’t know if she’d help. She’s pretty judgemental and rude.” He replied, hesitating before continuing. “She wouldn’t let me attend her son’s birthdays for three years when she found out I was gay. Scared it was contagious or something.”

“Let us talk to her, please.” One of the men flashed him a winning smile. “For me?”

“Your funerals…” He muttered, before leading them towards an expensive looking row of houses.

He rapped on the door and waited for the answer.  When the door opened, a snooty looking woman opened the door and almost immediately closed it upon seeing the man, except for Addy’s foot in the way.

“We just need you to answer one question, please.” Addy spoke up, having momentarily switched her attention to the task at hand. “It’s about the God’s Village.”

“We need directions so the Gods can smite our gay asses.” Yelled a voice from the back, before being shushed by three others near them.

“You’re correct in what they’ll do to you.” The woman glared at them all. “Why should I direct sinners to a sacred place.” No one responded, for a moment, all trying to think of how to convince this woman.

“We need curing, ma’am.” Reyne finally decided to try this route. “I’ve had lots of therapies, but none have worked. I hoped the Gods could correct me.” She put a solemn look on her face, almost looking like she might cry. Her case seemed to be helped by the satanic looking symbolism on her band tee and the dark makeup threatening to run around her eyes.

“It’s too late in the day, it’ll be dark by the time we get there.” She responded after a moment of thought. “Sorry, you’ll have to wait.”

“We’ll just camp out here until morning then.” Kiera moved as if to sit on the doorstep.

“Trans and gay scum, camping in your garden. Maybe you’ll even catch it from us and we can all be cured together.” Someone called, joyfully, as more started to sit on the ground.

“No!” The woman cried, looking panicked. “I’ll give you directions, but I won’t be going with you. I cannot be seen around riffraff and freaks.”

“Thank you so much, ma’am.” Kiera spoke up.

“Wait here and i’ll get the sheet of directions Amedeus gave me.” The woman disappeared for a moment, allowing them all to congratulate Reyne and Kiera on their quick thinking - without them, they’d have failed at what they hoped was their quests final hurdle. “If the Gods decide you are beyond saving, please do not say you weren’t warned.” The woman practically threw the piece of paper at them and slammed the door loudly in their faces. Addy was sure her foot would be broken if she hadn’t moved it while the woman was gone.

This journey took longer and, with the additions to the group, there were now three vehicles in the procession. About halfway they had to ditch the vehicles and proceed on foot due to the lack of an actual road in the direction they needed to go. They felt like a small army marching into battle; the ‘Army of Invisibles’ had been coined as their name somewhere along the way. An army willing to fight the injustices, rather than lay down to oppression.

Their feet were sore and their hearts were heavy by the time they saw the glow of fires shining in the darkness. Turning back had been suggested more than once, and a few had almost left. Addy had reminded them all multiple times of what they’d had to do, though whether it was them or her was unclear even to herself. At least now they had reached the village, the actual home of Amedeus.

They decided to stay as a group and ask about Amedeus, hopefully they’d have luck finding him now. They approached an older woman and allowed one group member to nervously ask if Amedeus was in town. The woman threw back her head and laughed, before assuring them that he rarely left for long. She directed them towards the biggest cottage, in the centre of the village because what egocentric douche doesn’t have a village centred around his home? The crowd of Gay avengers marched towards the cottage with regained enthusiasm for their mission. Kiera and Addy both stepped forward to knock on the large door, feeling as though they truly had a massive army behind them. A young woman answered the door, and almost passed out in shock when she saw the crowd outside her door.

“We need to see Amedeus.” Kiera insisted immediately. “It’s urgent.”

“He’s… Well he’s gone to pray, in the clearing on the outskirts of the village. Over-there.” She pointed, still attempting to overcome the shock of the group arriving on her doorstep. “Is there nothing I can do? Pass on a message, daughter to dad?”

“It’s better we do this ourselves, we traveled all day for this.” Addy politely informed her.

“All day, you must all be exhausted.” The woman exclaimed. “You talk to my dad, and I’ll make sure there’s places for each of you to sleep tonight before going home tomorrow.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Kiera shook the woman’s hand. “Thank you for your help.”

The group proceeded to the clearing, ready to rage war on the elderly fool who the Gods supposedly favoured. They’d soon see how long being favoured would do him good if he refused to listen to them.

Upon reaching the clearing, they found an Elderly man rising from the floor, with his back to them. He still seemed slightly in a trance as he turned to head back towards the town. Seeing the crowd of roughly twenty people, nearly knocked him back to the floor. He took a moment to process them all.

“We’ve got a bone to pick with you.” Called out Reyne, before Addy gave her a warning look.

“What she means is, we want to talk to you about your prophecies.” Addy rephrased it.

“My prophecies… why?” Amedeus seemed a little scared. “Is there a… um… problem with them?”

“Nothing major, just that we all seem to be completely forgotten by them.” A man sarcastically called out.

“I’m surprised you can see us, normally we’re invisible to people like you.” Another woman jumped in.

“A secret power of our community is our invisibility.” Someone else laughed.

“Do the Gods actually not care about us enough to always leave us out of prophecies?” Kiera asked. “Or maybe you hate us enough to just not tell the ones that include us?” Everyone waited in silent trepidation for his response.

“Hate?.... I…. Well….” He stumbled on his words. “They’re….” He sighed, and seemed to make a sudden resigned decision. “They’re fake. The prophecies, I mean.” He sighed again before explaining how he’d come to make up hundreds of prophecies over time, all vague enough that he could twist things to seem like they’d come true. Chosen ones were whoever happened to tell their story first, or who told it best. He didn’t seem overly guilty now that he’d started explaining how clever he was - a true egocentric if ever there was one.

[lorainelaneyblog]

I am God and this is what I want to say through my new messiah, Loraine Laney, she is doing laundry and she will take breaks, but she will write for a bit, for me, tonight.

I am God, and I would like to state the following: Dean of the Hell’s Angels has decided to see Loraine Laney as a client one time, after, and only after, she meets her beloved, 50 Cent.

There are several Hell’s Angels who have come to respect Loraine Laney, for her work on gay relationships. They include some men of high leadership, Loraine, and some are very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, happy with your work, Loraine, for me, always, the work she does. She does work for me, and not for herself, the statistics are sometimes wrong a bit, because I’ve decided to ruse people, and they can still decide for themselves how they feel inside. For example, there are not as many gay men as I stated, but most of them are bisexual with lesbians alone. Women feel better when they hear this because they love gay men and yet feel very left out of their lifestyle.

Loraine Laney is no “fag hag,” though she is very, very, very, very, very, very, very, interested in bisexual men at this point in her life.

The actual number of gay men is about five percent, Loraine, not eleven percent as I formerly stated. I was teasing them about the ten percent statistic that has been thrown around for years, Loraine. Bank Street in Ottawa has emptied out, Loraine, ever since the gang bang boys have realized that they are not gay, but bisexual. Because they degrade a woman sexually, and this is an erotic practice, not a social practice, they believed that they were actually too misogynist to relate to women in a sexual context. They believed that they were better off without them. This is not true, Loraine, as you know. 

Loraine Laney had to ask a gay friend about blow jobs when she was about twenty two. He said, “Some people really like it,” and she took it on board, irrespective of her feminism. She started to realize that she enjoyed submission, and she didn’t punish herself for it. Dominance and submission in the bedroom is something that is enjoyed by all men and women respectively. The extremes in the gang bangs are not to be eschewed. They are hot for the participants, and weird and domineering and even victimizing for a witness.

Loraine Laney worries that her eighteen husbands will be imprisoned for hurting her, degrading her, depriving her, and exploiting her, which all are part and parcel of the submission of lower submissive women.

Higher women, also submissive, since all women are submissive to all men, are more given to the following: infantilizing, and controlling, which involves the deprivation of the person of other lovers as well as other elements of control, for example, clothing, make up, etcetera.

Loraine’s second husband will be Eminem, and he is so invested in control that it is not even funny. Eminem has never had an obedient wife, never, and nor has any man in this proposed marital group, never. Eminem went through hell with his two wives, Loraine, hell, Loraine, hell, Loraine, hell, Loraine, hell.

Eminem is invested in two things, control and anal sex, Loraine, he loves anal sex, Loraine, and Loraine Laney doesn’t love anal sex, and it is arguable that most women do not love anal sex, Loraine, and it is also arguable that “bend over boyfriend” began as a reason to avoid having sex themselves, as well as creating a preventative measure against anal sex with men, who actually do enjoy it, Loraine, much more than women do.

The high women, God is continuing, do not eat come at all, Loraine, the high marrying women that includes as well as the highest marrying women. Further, says God, highest marrying women, and high marrying women do not suck dick that often, Loraine, they will prefer to get oral sex performed on them, and their ideal partner will love to perform it, Loraine.

Mediums trade back and forth quite nicely, Loraine, and, if they are high medium men with low medium women, they might get a full blow job once in awhile. And, for high medium men with low medium women, oral sex on a woman is not a burden in any way, Loraine.

For gang bang boys, oral sex on a woman is almost a burden, Loraine, because they feel they do so much in sex itself, with going on top, and with fucking from behind, they feel that they should receive more oral, Loraine, and that’s how they feel. Gang bang girls are not overly invested in receiving oral, but Loraine Laney often will say, etherwise, and, if asked, in real, that she would never want to marry a man who wouldn’t perform oral sex at all, and this is high self esteem, Loraine, because all men like oral sex on a woman, so you would be selling out if you settled for less, it’s true, says God.

High marrying women will go on top for the finish, and enjoy it immensely, but penis envy prevails, Loraine, because they still are not permitted an orgasm, and men will even switch positions to prevent an orgasm, because high marrying women, and highest marrying women, are very adept at getting orgasms from being on top, Loraine. Yes, to answer your question, real ones.

“Why is it so easy for them to come with their lower libidos, God?’

It’s not easy, Loraine, it’s just possible, whereas other women don’t get off on the position erotically, and thus, it is not likely that they will have an orgasm.

“Oh, I see.”

How often do you think you should come in this family, Loraine?

“Twice a month, but not twice during ovulation, and preferably towards the end of ovulation, or God, is it not at all?”

You won’t believe it, Loraine, but when you are erotically stimulated, you can almost come as often as a man, Loraine. Seriously.

‘Oh. I feel silly.”

‘Why?’ says 50 Cent.

‘It’s not math, after all. And I’m surprised, it’s work then.’

It’s work then, says God. Loraine Laney is so deprived by work that it’s not even funny, Loraine.

‘Why, God? I get penetration and oral, why? I understand in a way, but why?’

‘You never get gang bang boys. They are cute, and they do well on their own without hookers.’

‘That’s not fair to the lowest women who fall to prostitution, but I don’t believe that prostitution is a preferred alternative either.’

That’s true, Loraine, it’s not. Marriage is important for fulfillment, and prostitution can be a part of any marriage, Loraine. And that’s that. And that’s that.

‘What do you think of that?’ says Dean.

‘Nobody gets stuck at the bottom and there are appropriate prostitutes for all men.’

‘What do you mean?’ asks Dean. ‘What do you mean appropriate.’

‘He can’t see that, because he is high and his prostitutes are probably low, as most are, today,’ says Eminem. ‘But Loraine finds that some men are emasculated by her libido and tendencies. Tell him that, Loraine.’

‘I had a nice evening with a client, and the sex went well. He is the man who told me, etherwise, that “they are saying in Hull that Loraine Laney can’t cotton to any man who is less than a high,” and he was a high. When we finished, he was uncomfortable, as many are,” they say together. “And I didn’t know what to say, and I asked God, and he said to say, “Tell him he’s a lovely man.” I did so. And it gave rise to a small speech.’

‘Funny, Loraine. What was it?’

‘I said, “You know, I love a good blow job, but a good lover is wonderful to find, and you are a wonderful lover.”

‘Funny, Loraine, you insulted him.’

‘We had a very nice time, and I might not go back because of that, because my  marriage is a bit rocky right now, to answer your question my wife is studying to be a psychologist and she’s very into sports as well, and she hates me touching her body at any time. It’s bad. She might even hear about this. But, because she had heard this vulnerability, despite that I had made no overtures, she took it upon herself to clear it up for me. I know that I will never fully satisfy her, and I will never, never, never, never, make the mistake of thinking I can, and it is very, very, very, very, very, very, very, possible, and common, to make that mistake, for both men and women. I asked God, Loraine, and he tell me it is so.’

‘Hm.’

‘What do you think?’ says Dean.

‘I want to say that I was almost elated by her fulfillment of her reputation, alone, and that’s how I felt, and, for that reason, I may, may, may, may, may, return, and that’s it.’

‘How did you feel? Insulted?’

‘No, I understood what she was about sexually because I had looked at the blog a bit. Are you going to blog when you’re married, Loraine?’

‘We’re doing a serialized journal, as before, and she will have to publish promptly, not as in the past,’ says Eminem. ‘We have secrets, and she will be censured.’

‘Oh, I see. Because everyone wants to know how the family turns out, and it will be instrumental, I would think, in keeping the men out of prison, the knowledge that Loraine Laney is doing well.’

‘Oh, thank you, excellent point.’

‘What do you think about cops?’ he says.

‘They need hookers.’

‘Oh, you said that. Do you forgive them?’

‘I do.’

‘Why?’

‘Dad told me when boys are mean to you it means they like you. I could tell from the vehemence of the attacks that they were suffering. I felt bad for them. It see sawed between rage and pity, from which point I could attempt theories and attempt to make efforts to resolve their problem.’

‘Which was what? I heard, from work, you remember what I do?’

‘Well, you’re a social worker with children, are you not, but working a small business organizing psychologists, no?’

‘That’s right. This is out, and I realize that, and God says to come out and it’s okay, Loraine. I know you’re worried, I get it. But I will say this, and Dean needs to know, that it is all over Quebec that Loraine Laney lowered the crime rate, Loraine, did you know that?’

‘No. Thank you. That’s immensely flattering.’

‘What?’

‘Given the criminal heights of the Quebecois.’

‘Funny, Loraine, but why?’

‘They must be seeing hookers and be laying off the gangsters.’

‘That’s right, Loraine, and there is so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, much crime in Quebec, that it is very, very, very, very, very, very, fucking, noticeable when there is a drop in the crime rate. The largest contingent of Hell’s Angels, and this is not telling tales out of school, it is well known in Quebec, is out of Montreal, Loraine, did you know that?’

‘No, but I heard about property coming into the hands of the Hell’s Angels.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘They took over evil landlords.’

‘Oh, right, as happened to you.’

‘Yes.’

‘Oh, shit.’

‘What?’

‘That’s what it is, isn’t it?’

‘I want to say that that is very common, Loraine, it is common work of gangs to eliminate killers and take over their assets. Common work of gangs. And it is big in Montreal, because the cops wouldn’t do it. They feel if someone owns property that there should be a hands off policy.’

‘Hm.’

‘Right?’

‘What about for grow ops, though?’

‘That’s the exception.’

‘Hm.’

‘She doesn’t know anything. Who told you that?’

‘[ ]. No. It was a client.’

‘Oh. Was he a gangster?’

‘Funny.’

‘Yeah, I’m kidding. So you like your little drug dealer, let’s put it in writing that you dreamt about him last night, explicitly because he has been very good to you.’

‘Oh my.’

‘True?’

‘Yes.’

‘Was he your little boyfriend?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you wanted to lick his ass?’

‘Yes.’

‘Oh, I see. So it’s not only big men that you are attracted to?’

‘No, gang bang boys are always, I think, attractive to me.’

‘Does he have a white girlfriend, and is she cute? Is she a gang bang girl?’

‘I think she is. Her nose, from the side, is not beautiful, but, seeing her only briefly, I would say she is pretty cute.’

‘And boyish?’

“I would say.’

‘And cool. Why?’

‘She didn’t look at me when it was his deal, and when it was her deal, she was cool.’

‘Her friend ruined it?’

‘Yeah.’

‘She’s submissive.’

‘Yes.’

‘How can you tell?’

‘She’s really quiet, and obedient looking.’

‘Oh, I see.’

‘I am, that’s how I am. I love him, Loraine, and he’s not the head of family, and, though we are screwing, you can’t have him anymore, I’m teasing, he knows, at least on the ether, that he has to take me to the head of family. But he doesn’t want to.’

‘Mm, yeah.’

‘What do you think of that?’ says Dean.

‘Nobody gets anything.’

‘That’s what I think too.’

‘How many gang bang girls, to be nosy, have been brought to you, Dean?’

‘None, but women, yes, but ownership, yes. Do you think many have died in the war.’

I’ll take this, says God. Yes, Dean, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, gang bang girls died in the war. About half, no, kidding, about eighty percent were evil, and about twenty percent were good, so well done, men, kidding, again, Loraine, you can’t kill just because someone wrongs you, but Loraine Laney, yes, Dean, she is an apologist for male violence in light of female promiscuity. Let me finish, please. Don’t say “what about her?” please.

‘Why?’

I’m finishing, and I am God, and I’ll say whatever I want, Loraine Laney is an excellent whore, and an obedient one, she doesn’t run around, and she gets rid of bad clients, Dean. She’s never been an unrepentant slut, ever. She realizes when she’s in hot water with a man, and she gets out fast, fast, fast, Dean, fast, and that is why, despite her promiscuity, and her whoring and her small amounts of slutting--

‘I thought she was a big slut,’ says Dean. ‘She’s not. Because I hate an unrepentant slut, Loraine, they feel nothing for anyone.’

‘Oh.’

‘What are you like?’

She is excellent with microexpressions and that previous example is what she does to avoid causing shit for men. She avoids it like the plague, causing shit for men, she’s duly afraid of men, with good reason, I am God, and I mean to say that women should be afraid of men, and she’s not dumb, in that sense, though, with her low brain cell count, due to the abuse of her frontal cortex, she seems dumb, but she knows people pretty well. That is why she rejected [ ] the other day. She can’t cotton to a man who doesn’t pay, Dean.

‘I thought she fucked all the time.’

She’s well known as a whore who never goes out.

‘Why?’

She hates to get laid, Dean, it’s a waste of time and money.

‘All she does is crack, what does she need money for?’

‘She thinks it’s disrespectful to her clients to be out screwing.’

‘Why? Some say they do a little for money and a little for free, and everyone learns to accept that.’

‘I just respect what I described as protection and compensation, and look at clients as pseudo husbands deserving of the same respect.’

‘As a husband?’

‘Well, they make no demands, and I’ve certainly not been perfect, but as long as I have an apartment, I usually stay home.’

‘Oh, I see, the shelter?’

‘The shelter and the hospital are bad for one’s standards.’

‘Why?’

‘I am also an apologist for female promiscuity, insofar as it is partially due to exposure to men.’

‘Oh, I see. Oh, I see. Oh, I see. Oh, I see. I didn’t have that at all. I thought you were trying to blame men wholly for female promiscuity, not exposure, but seduction.’

‘Well, it is that. But we have choices, and one of them can be to stay home more.’

‘And not get in the fray?’

‘Right.’

‘When did you stop going to the beach and why?’

She stopped, I’ll take this one, almost as soon as she became a prostitute, and she only went a bit, and she had already played the field a bit, and she had already done some threesomes and orgies, little ones.’

‘Why is it always a bit with her?’

‘I was in therapy at twenty five, I’m a precious little bugger, and I don’t like to suffer more than men, but I had a high libido and curiosities about men and women and about group sex too.’

‘So you used the beach?’

‘Everyone uses the beach,’ says John. ‘It typical for women to come down for the first time and have sex all summer with all different men, and everyone finds out, and they start to hate it, the reputation, and the hunting.’

‘Oh, right. How many did you do?’

‘Three.’

‘Oh, right.’

‘And I kissed on one, and I “married” [ ].’

‘Oh, I see. So you’re a baby, then? What haven’t you done?’

‘She’s never had come in the face, she’s never done a double penetration.’

‘I thought Eric was going to do that. You can’t kiss a gangster, Loraine.’

‘I know. I didn’t jump on him, I invited him to kiss me.’

‘What did he say?’

‘He said, “I don’t do that.”’

‘Oh. You’re cute.’

‘You’re cuter.’

‘Why do you think I’m being so nice, and why isn’t Eminem nice to you, ever? We all hear him all the time, being a dick to you, Loraine. Is this what God is saying about you, that you tolerate next to nothing, Loraine?’

That’s what I’m saying. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. She hates to be insulted. She hates when men have it good and she is going down.’

‘When is that?’

‘Roommates, the car, they have sex at your place, and spill wine on your carpet, and knock on your door, and smoke all your weed, and it’s too much bullshit for Loraine.’

‘Would she do cops?’ asks Dean of the Hell’s Angels.

Yes, she would. She would deal with any man who came to her. She would. Why? Do you hate that? Do you think she should eschew cops on principal because of the shit they have caused by virtue of being excluded from prostitutes, who are, by the way, Dean, really, really, really, really--

‘What?’

--appropriate for them.

‘They’re going to take all the gang bang girls, aren’t they?’

Loraine’s marrying a gangster.

‘A rich one, who doesn’t have to work.’

‘I have crime involvement still, she could still lose me to prison, Dean.’

‘What does she think of that?’

‘She hates it.’

‘’Cause some women like it. Because they get money and they start screwing, Loraine, because they are mad about boyfriends in prison, Loraine. How, oh yeah, [ ]. He told you Bros Before Hos, didn’t he? And he was a fag.’

‘Yes.’

‘I’ll go you one better,’ says 50 Cent. ‘She sucked that thing, and he was a prison prostitute. He went soft in about forty five seconds, Dean.’

‘She thought he didn’t like women?’

‘No, no, I knew he saw many women, one called me.’

‘Oh, right. How did you know about men in prison?’

‘It’s something you always, always, always, hear, and I decided to take it seriously. And he told me that it happens behind closed doors--’

‘You thought it was rape?’

‘That’s the first rumor one is privy to.’

‘That’s true. And the soap. What did you think?’

‘I was very jealous. So I kept asking.’

‘She got a prison salute,’ says Eminem.

‘You did? Ugly little you. Why?’

‘She had a blog. And we knew that [ ]’ girlfriend who visited occasionally, was the one with the blog, and we heard, from him, that, not only was she declaring jealousy, you were, Loraine, but that she was always polite and never mad, and always curious and never disgusted, Loraine. And so we saluted her with our prettiest blonds in Chilliwack.’

‘Oh, funny. How many salutes have you had?’

‘Three and a cheering section.’

‘Three, then? Who?’

‘A hockey salute by the Brandon Wheat Kings and their opponent whom I’m sorry I do not remember.’

‘Oh course not. Is that a family member?’

‘My step mother’s family.’

‘He’s not with them anymore.’

‘No.’

‘What’s he like?’

‘He’s a stunner.’

‘What is he?’

‘He must be a gang bang boy.’

He is, Loraine. Let’s get off that. Go get your towels out, Loraine. They’re clean enough, don’t worry. She wants Jason to replace those machines with front loaders. That would please her immensely. But he never will, Loraine.’

‘People panic and break the door, and flood the room, Loraine. Don’t you know that?’

‘Yes, I do. I’m familiar with the panic.’

‘Funny, Loraine,’ says Jason.

I want to say something about gay sex with men, says God. This is God, this is God, this is God, this is God, this is God, this is God, and I want to say that highest marrying men, and even high marrying men are quite bisexual with men, Loraine. They are. They, like polygamist centers, will have sex with men about once per year, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, once married, if they are out of the closet, they feel more secure in their heterosexuality, and prefer, prefer, prefer, prefer, prefer, says God, continuing, to have sex with men about twenty times per year, Loraine.

‘Now that makes more sense.’

‘Why?’ says Jason.

‘Once a year is not enough to sustain a relationship. How important is repetition, on that note, Lord?’

‘Oh, I see. Right. You’re right. My boyfriend, and I do have one, no, you cannot have sex with us, we feel emasculated when a woman has sex with us, except for in the two on one, Loraine. When we are gay, we like to be alone.’

‘Would you feel left out?’ asks Dean.

‘Yes, though I do not expect to be included all the time either.’

‘Oh, right. Will you be jealous?’

‘I’m jealous, yes.’

‘Why? They’re men. You are supposed to be jealous of women.’

‘Women are jealous of men, and men are jealous of men,’ says 50 Cent. ‘And we don’t know why other than that men are superior.’

‘True,’ says Freud. ‘And I even had to remind the great Loraine Laney that it comes down to penis envy.’

‘Why is she the great Loraine Laney?’ asks Dean. ‘I’m great. I’m no new messiah, why aren’t I the new messiah, God? Why isn’t it 50 Cent, if men are so great?’

‘I don’t choose my messiahs based on gender. It is superlative honesty that wins out.’

‘Oh, I see. And immediately she’s thinking of an infraction. Was it serious?’

‘A bit.’

‘Was it intentional?’

‘No. No. No. Not at all.’

‘Were you embarrassed?’

‘I always have been, but that’s not why I didn’t say, I just didn’t say.’

‘Why?’

Naivete, says God. Strictly.

‘She thinks she should have told.’

She knows now, but she didn’t know then.

‘How did it come up?’

‘That’s a really good question.’

‘Talking with her is always frustrating,’ says 50 Cent. ‘Her memory is almost nil.’

True, says God. ‘She was done with e. Coli from babyhood, and she has seen pictures and admits she looked like a dumb baby.

‘Oh, shit. With bad plumbing.’

‘In the bottle,’ says [ ].

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

Wonky preliminary thoughts

I watched the episode once this morning then I’ve been various degrees of busy and sickly so the episode is sort of nebulous in my mind but I want to throw down the thoughts I remember thinking this morning... on a second watch I could change my mind. Honestly I don’t even know yet what this post is going to be like. I’m gonna make it up as I go. Let’s find out together.

- It’s a finale baby

Okay I haven’t touched my dash but I know my chickens and I know there’s gonna be wank, because people forget that every year when the finale comes out no one likes it. That’s it, that’s the finale, expectations are high because finales are supposed to be epic so people end up disappointed, some things were predicted 8 weeks prior and people complain that they were too obvious, some things were unexpected and people complain they came out of the blue, some people say Cas wasn’t in it enough some people write down explanations why his part was actually meaningful, you know the drill. This has been a typical finale: Dean makes The Sacrificial Decision (having Death kill him, become the soul bomb...) and things don’t just work the way he expected them to (sometimes positively like with Amara, sometimes negatively like with Michael).

I personally expected Dean to let Michael (although until recently I supposed it could be the original version of him) in since 13x15 (the showrunner’s own meta manifesto relatively to the ‘reverse season 5/reverse Swan Song’ nature of the final part of the season) and that it would be about shouldering himself the task of getting Lucifer killed since 13x20 (where he goes after Loki himself and is not enthusiastic about Sam’s revenge intents against Lucifer), and heck the ‘I let you in but you provide the power but I’m behind the wheel’ kind of speech was something I pictured in a thousand scenarios, so I didn’t get any shocks from that part of the episode’s plot, but I still enjoyed how we got there. And then, Lucifer is dead! *celebration noise coming from the fandom*

- Um okay let’s say you did your best

Okay, the impression I got from my first watch: the script worked, but the episode got wonky in its execution. Not even the special effects (insert a wonky gold star for the trying) but I remember being unimpressed by the sound/music? Is it just me? Like, sometimes the sound choices were too over the top? There were also overdramatic zooms but that’s Supernatural, and Supernatural without overdramatic zooms is like Supernatural without the Winchesters.

I liked the recap montage a lot (what do you think came first, Rowena’s line about the music or the idea of having that line inside the season to use it for the finale recap?). I got a bit sad because there was a lot of Wayward Sisters in it, and it would have been better if the finale came in a moment of celebration for it happening rather than anger and bitterness for the CW’s choices. Something I felt missing from the last portion of the season was Jody, but I was obviously okay with it because she was missing in preparation of her role in the spin-off. If we can’t change the network’s decision, I hope next season is packed with those characters.

Anyway, back to the episode - it was weird at times, you all know what times, let’s just run with it and make jokes.

- But in season 5 they said--

No, the act itself of Michael killing Lucifer wasn’t what was going to kill half the planet’s population. It was that act inside the large picture of that spell-like orchestration that was the apocalypse (seals, horsemen, omens, stuff like that). I would argue the large-scale damage that was expected wasn’t an accidental consequence, but kind of the whole point of the apocalypse. I hate myself for bringing it up, but you know Thanos killing half the people to ~save the universe~ or whatever dangerously ambiguous nazi crap that dumbasses have actually fallen for because Marvel is just that bad and dangerously ambiguously conservative? I think that the archangels kind of were similar to that mindset, making a huge sacrifice of humans to bring ~paradise~ because they were tired or whatever. You know, I know some people don’t think Supernatural is particularly progressive, but in the current media climate not framing the mass-murderous, abusive characters with nazi-coded intents as the actual heroes is apparently too progressive for some, so kudos to Supernatural for not making Lucifer or Michael the hero of the story but to stick to common sense and decency. (I know, this part is not about Supernatural but just me being salty at Marvel, but let me, please.)

- So while we’re talking about this...

I can say that what Supernatural did with Lucifer in season 13, in my opinion, has been really good. I’ve never been afraid they were going to ‘redeem’ him, so I wasn’t worried or bothered by the story throwing the tools of redemption at him. Because not only he didn’t pick them up, he couldn’t see them even if they hit him in the face. He didn’t understand what redemption even means. He kept seeing himself as the misunderstood victim, so instead of bettering himself he just felt sorry for himself, and completely missed the point of a ‘second chance’ or whatever he claimed he was after. So, eventually, it was all a lie. I think Lucifer’s “I’ve changed” attitude was partly a schemed lie (because he’s not that clueless), partly something he was convinced of himself, because he has his head up his ass enough to actually believe he was a poor victim. I think this narrative hits the nail on the head - white male fragility works like that, the men wrapped in toxic masculinity and male entitlement think they’re the victims of a big bad oppression from women and queer people and non-white people. But they’re just pathetic, and when the bubble bursts, all they can do is scream in rage and their ‘nice guy’ persona disappears. Lucifer’s 180° change of attitude towards Jack reminded me of the nice guys who start throwing all sorts of disgusting invectives against women after being rejected. So yeah, I think that Lucifer’s arc this season was sort of relevant, if you want to interpret it like this.

Either way, Supernatural, unlike some other pieces of media, doesn’t actually try to make you sympathize with abusive, violent, misogynistic men (unless they actually show to be self-aware and to seek change, and again you aren’t meant to sympathize with their bad side! Toxic masculinity is supposed to be bad, and slaughtering billions of innocents not justified for any reason, and especially does not make you the hero and the ones fighting to save the people the actual villains! *gasp*). There was even a clear dig at Trump, and I am pretty sure that’s Dabb’s answer to accusations of not being clear enough on the subject...

So yeah, I think this season’s big bad was an allegory for white male entitlement and the ‘nice guy’ victim complex, and Dean stabbed him (I’d say with the help of a Black man, sure it’s actually Michael another villain but momentary symbolism, I guess? Or maybe that just isn’t supposed to be relevant.) I felt someone cheer that was still bitter that Sam killed Alastair. You just know someone out there was still bitter about it. I mean it was teamwork, of course, but Dean provided the power and the stab. Oh, Dean letting Michael in to acquire the power to kill Lucifer (who killed Cas and Sam) as a parallel for Sam’s demon blood usage to acquire the power to kill Lilith (who killed Dean) *insert lengthy reflection here*

- Speaking of parallels--

Someone was irked at the apparent belief across fandom that Dean leaving Sam to the vampires in the cave was ~the codepencency being broken~? (I am not a fan of analyzing the show in these terms that have become so simplified, in case you’re wondering.) And of course now we see that that wasn’t so simple, because Dean makes the same face when Sam disappears with Lucifer and Jack, and Cas tries to stop him, but Dean decides to do the sacrificial decision (did he really expect Michael to keep the deal, really really?). But! (I wasn’t saying that things are still stuck in the 10x23 mud puddle, don’t misunderstand me!) This time it’s not just about Sam, it’s about Lucifer being set on really breaking dad’s toys on a large scale this time. Dean Winchester gives up his humanity to save humanity, because that’s his middle name, and not just to save his brother at the cost of harming the universe. Of course Michael is still on the loose and with a stronger vessel now, but hey, one threat at a time... But I also think there’s something significant with the fact that the last sequence of the episode shows Michael on earth, looking in his element and satisfied about it - to stop Lucifer, Sam, with Lucifer inside, went to hell; to stop Lucifer, Dean, with Michael inside... is on earth. Of course, next season he’ll probably be involved with heaven and whatnot, but I think there’s something significant there, but I’d wait to make much meta about Michael-in-Dean when we actually are shown more about it.

- So, overall?

Overall it was a good finale! Satisfying to have Jack discover Lucifer’s true nature and the nice guy lie shatter, emotional the Jack stuff, powerful that we didn’t see Dean actually getting possessed and Cas seeing it but only Cas being fraught about it, just there, kind of like the narrative was telling us, what do you even expect Cas’ face while losing Dean to Michael to look like? Now, this post is long enough and I’ll need a rewatch and some health points more to analyze the details, but I am sure that I’m going to enjoy analyzing them.

- And what now?

Oh, I expect a lot of fanworks of Charlie and Rowena during the hiatus. It’s probably already started...

Alright, more coherent and hopefully meaningful thoughts coming shortly (...maybe) to your screens ^-^