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wastelandt-t · 4 months

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"The Byronic hero, incapable of love, or capable only of an impossible love, suffers endlessly. He is solitary, languid, his condition exhausts him. If he wants to feel alive, it must be in the terrible exaltation of a brief and destructive action."

— Albert Camus, The Rebel

Fiction is often the pill case for revolution, an outlet providing its narrator a means for advocation under the whimsical façade of fairies and dragons. C. S Lewis, author of the Narnia Chronicles, presents a ‘supposal’ (Klein, 2023) for the demonstration of Christianity within the magical realm, his faith guiding the four children through ‘the other’ (Nero, 2018) and presenting a reality where the Neoplatonic ‘Good’ trumps all who oppose it, Western societies ideals of social conduct influencing and ultimately conquering the new world. While fiction can be read as a simple escape from the mundanity of modern capitalist structures, it is its separation from our common world that makes it so fulfilling to engage with, frequently using the readers' immediate environment and shared comforts as a foundation to develop its image; Apocalypse as a genre (its Romanised translation meaning Revelation), came to be via the first eschatological texts written by Jewish-Exilic prophets between 200-165bce, and provides an immediate substructure for modern apocalyptic books, Tv shows and Movies such as The Last of Us (2023-), The Walking Dead (2010-2022) and many more widely adored pieces of media. With the genesis of the apocalyptic genre rooted within the catastrophic antisemitic acts of Late Babylonian reform, there is a palpable consummation between social histories and religious allegory, a trend carried throughout history with almost all apocalyptic texts, whether presented through the threat of the Spanish Armada In Webster’s ‘Duchess of Malfi’(1613) or Stoker’s reflection of public hysteria surrounding the fallen woman (The Fallen Woman, 2015) and the colonial guilt (Ilott, 2019) of the fin de siècle in ‘Dracula’(1897). In an ever-growing landscape reliant on technological advancements, there’s ultimately a far greater accessibility to such media, both moral conduct and educational improvements throughout history allowing modern civilization to adapt these tales to a varied representation of the genre for individualist satisfaction. Within the excitement of infinitesimal representations of leads and anti-heroes, a prevalent theme has begun to emerge within the apocalyptic genre, one that is intrinsically linked to the trivialised internet term ‘DILFism’, referring to the generalised attraction towards or for exclusively older men within an overwhelmingly female audience of a significantly younger age. These often white, conventionally attractive older men are a significant drive in younger female audiences engaging in apocalyptic works that have conventionally been geared towards male interest, diverting the gaze often adapted for male interest (such as in the Tomb Raider games and films with the ultra-feminine and beautiful Lara Croft) to a shockingly attainable yet handsome father figure, there to be digested by audiences sexually while posing no threat to his young viewers by appearing adorably platonic. This Leading Man acts in innuendo, appealing to the taboo intrigue of young sexuality and providing a pacifying pathway for the viewer to enact her fantasy upon him, whether that be sexual or fatherly. While this trope could easily be banished to the realm of misogynistic irrelevance such as the vampire craze of the early 2000s was for its overwhelming digestion by young female audiences, the overlap between male-centered apocalyptic action media and its newly claimed female audience presents parallels to social metaphors that reflect the (aforementioned) Prophets of the Old Testament. The emergence of this new Byronic Hero within modern apocalyptic media represents modern fears, a religion on which an under-represented diaspora can exert a mythological metaphor. Despite their undeniable good looks, the men at the center of the female gaze within the apocalyptic genre give a deeper insight into the shortcomings of establishment, and in their placement within the end of the world, such figures can help guide a displaced generation into the promise of a better future.

Early 2000s media brought with it a wave of seemingly irreverent internet terms, which when used to describe the emerging cliques and fandoms for contemporary literature and films such as Twilight and The Vampire Diaries, saw an overwhelming demonisation of its content. Any misogynistic nuance was dissolved when considering the types of media being slated, internet forums and websites such as Kiwi Farms and Tumblr established for the sole purpose of slating media directed towards young, female audiences in the name of ‘Cringe Culture’. Where girls reading Stephanie Meyer and choosing to be team Jacob or Edward was the epitome of hysterical vanity, the same penalisation was not shown towards male-catered media, fights and deaths over football teams honoured as war victories as girls received insult over fandom blogs and posters on walls. While criticism of female-catered media is certainly justified in many respects (whether that be the glorification of eating disorders, negative body image, or the inherent controversy of consent between a 17-year-old girl and a 200-year-old vampire), chauvinist reactions to the female gaze prevailed, hence why as society liberalised the boundaries between gendered content (largely through the extensive piloting towards gender expression by feminist groups and non-binary protest), the leading man, our projective, father Byronic hero becomes the epitome of revolution within the segregated world of media consumption. Opinions, often held by men under the internet-slag terms ‘Incel’ or ‘Lolcow’, offer the opinion that the shared interest in these apocalyptic father figures by both men and women is inherently Freudian, that sexual drive and colloquially termed ‘daddy issues’ is the sole aspect in the consumption of male media by female audiences, inferring a shallowness to girl’s nature as they attempt to gatekeep. While there is irrefutable evidence of women being attracted sexually to the characters at the forefront of the argument, it holds no exclusivity; within these fantasy realms, physical attributes gain a certain irrelevance and whether battle-scarred or zoomorphised, each carries a similarly adoring audience. Within a society that values physical appearance so highly, the wastelands of an apocalypse offer the opportunity to alleviate the social pressures of conformity and the standards of beauty. With an estimated 8.6% of women suffering from disordered eating patterns (more than double the men affected), the survivalist landscape of a zombie apocalypse where self-preservation dominates institutional conventions becomes an unexpected comfort, a safe and Gothic green world upon which to live out the fantasy of escaping debilitating illness. With guides such as the war-torn Daryl Dixon or Rick Grimes from AMC’s The Walking Dead providing for you in this primitive, romanticised escape from your mental illness, it is no wonder so many girls seek comfort within the desolate apocalyptic landscape. Apocalypse here serves as an anecdote to a social structure dictated by advertising, women accounting for 80-90% of the $500 million beauty market fundamentally run by men. To find a man willing to accept you irrespective of looks, while depressingly vain when acknowledged, is undoubtedly attractive, affording viewers to see themselves as a woman worthy of survival while living in a society informed by looks. The Wasteland offers the ultimate validation for an impressionable young audience and finds a female majority following his character where the other sex finds it hard to relate, gendered advertising stretching rarely to male discredit as it does with women.

The promise of valued character over physicality is not the only unexpected comfort to come from the man at the forefront of the apocalypse; much of the character-archetype's allure comes from his ability to resolve crises and act in line with Western ideals of morality. Regardless of whether he has killed before or enjoys the violence of the landscape, he miraculously only harms those who rebut the American Dream, in many cases actively trying to restore it through seeking cures to outbreak or establishing towns on which to build a new, cleaner society. The congruence of societal reflection seen within all historical Apocalyptic fantasy media becomes apparent when considering recent social histories within the audiences' own lives. Many have lived through tragedy, viewers relating to fears of the pandemic, the prospect of war and its homely presence since the nuclear threat of the 1980s, and environmental meltdown a certainty at the hands of corrupt Machiavellian leadership. To see reality nullified and mythicised through the lens of fantasy makes a game of real fears, control passed to a righteous leader that works only for the common good. The control this lead plays in the survival of the apocalypse is perhaps his greatest attribute and, where his authority would be considered threatening in the current reality, only furthers his moral good within the ‘othering’ of Gothic apocalyptic fantasy; Joel Miller, the lead male character in the video game/TV series The Last of Us, is a prime example of the unsuspecting yet powerful virtue of the archetype. In his reluctant quest to move a young girl (Ellie) across the wasteland of zombie-ruined America, he presents an unfaltering physical and mental strength when facing those intent on harming the child. He is family-oriented, seeing something of his late-daughter in Ellie, installing such a strong, platonic bond between the two that he becomes the ultimate guardian, and audiences are assured that no harm should ever come to the child as long as she is with her adopted father, Joel; the transitional period between teen-age and adulthood is a turbulent time developmentally, The Pew Research Institute assessing that fatherly relationships with their daughters are significantly lower in civility than they are in mother/daughter relationships. Joel and characters like him provide an alternative, his nature an accumulation of desired or lost parental relations, not only installing him with the control a parent possesses but elevating the responsibility of the emerging adult viewer as they find comfort in rewritten and fictitious paternal relations. Joel is unfalteringly omnipotent, omnipresent, and benevolent towards Ellie, positioning his character in a prophetic light, deifying him through moral and physical superiority that seems worthy of worship, just as girlish fandom does within fan pages and forums. His fatherly devotion establishes zero sexual threat which, in a society where 15 million girls ages 15-19 have experienced rape and sexual violence, offers a reprieve from the everyday terror of assault, his character going as far as to hunt down and sadistically eliminate those who attempted to enact such abuse upon Ellie. Where indignation is a reality expected for many women emerging into adulthood and with ubiquitous fears of societal and environmental disestablishment, a character, morally grey as the ‘green world’ has allowed them to become, adheres to the scriptures of idealised, Christian virtue, allocating the same messianic image onto the aging survivalist as Aslan provided in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles. Their characters are easily relatable, the main drive of the archetype is to reestablish a dignified control in an otherwise unstable landscape, a reflection of the transitional state of the age and location of his audience within a faltering capitalist civilisation.

The perfect image of this hero is disparaged only by his age and appearance, which, within a topography so ruinous as in the realm of fantasy, often only deepens his appeal; Domonique Lestel from the Edinburgh University Press supposes that young adult audiences reflect their opinions of the state of the common world into the media mythologies, meaning that romanticising the downfall of Institution makes it easier to digest, especially for those just entering a chartered marketplace disguised as the ‘9-5’. Through creating a limerent and metaphorical relationship with the characters that represent the shortcomings of society, it is easier to categorise reality in an attractive regard: falling in love with the principled ‘monster’ navigating the end of the world makes one’s journey a lot more palatable. Leaders of the Pagan faith endorse similar techniques of self-soothing and discovery through spiritual rituals such as shadow work, where a subject attempts to converse with the Freudian, psychoanalytic ‘Id’ with the aim of self-reflection and ultimately deliverance from repressed fears and desires stifling life’s natural transitions. Through the discovery of personal discomposure, one can reframe anxieties within superficial terrain, allowing audiences in such a landscape of apocalyptic fiction to transgress fear into desire. Indications of transgressive reframing are found throughout literary history, similar reflections of the female gaze can be witnessed through Lucy Westenra’s actions in Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ (1897); in her somnambulic state, Lucy finds herself unchaperoned in the garden late at night, called to the wolf-ish form of Dracula through an uncharacteristic sexual appetite, actions which would ultimately lead to her untimely and violent death. Lucy’s representation as the ‘femme fatale’ within the epistolary novel was a pasquinade by Stoker, mocking contemporary views on the Fallen Woman and implicitly addressing the institutions upon which he as an author was extradited for his social politics. Through the lens of the Gothic, which as a genre, rests parallel to apocalyptic fantasy, the taboo is far easier indulged in, its separation from reality making the unknowable known and the offensive, satire, all containing still the knowledge that the text's themes are simply a facade held against the contemporary landscape. Our attraction to the hazy morals, animalistic forms, and violent delight of the apocalyptic male archetype is nothing more than a handsome way of exploring feared desire, whether that be sexual or in virtue, born from discomfort within the modern world with a value likened to religious practice, ancient or reformed.

With women often subject to the violent scapegoat of male-catered media, the stereotyped innocence of femininity is abolished when faced with the Western world’s destruction. It's unlikely that the shock of 19th century ‘flaneur-ish’ tropes depicting the slaying of the vicious, voluptuous, and ‘Fallen Woman’ with teeth lining her Vagina have vanished within the mindless violence of the modern slasher flick. Within the land of the undead, there’s an established law that human, moral or otherwise, boasts an absolute right to life above their late opposition; where the monster finds its origins in the misogynistic depictions of liberated women, the gleeful attitude towards the ‘boogeyman's’’ demise is perhaps a rather depressing extension of those same disparaging views towards, the colloquially and improperly termed, ‘fairer sex’. Women infiltrating these male-dominated spaces such as video game fandoms set within the apocalypse summons similar, but most certainly more trivial, trepidations as suffrage installed within the turn of the industrial century. The same threat to authority men faced in the political sphere during the late reign of Victoria is reproduced through retweets and dislikes, writers of modern apocalyptic media reframing institutional, often misogynistic tropes to seek a wider audience for capital gain, leaving many men stuck in the conventions of old to feel displaced themselves within ‘incel-ish’ apathy towards change. They find themselves unable to find the Femme Fatale represented within the media, disallowing an outlet to see women suffer nonsensically as was common up to as late as the mid-2000s (‘I Spit on your Grave’ [2010] being a continuously remade and adapted film that sees the liberation of its leading women to become a subplot to non-con/rape fantasy). The lead-male archetype is more than just a pretty face and a pat on the back for his audience, as his presence within the media is discouraging fantastical depictions of sexual assault and violence towards women for male satisfaction: his nonchalance and undiscriminating violence or absolute devotion towards social change add something of a Byronic hero to the framework of his media, providing a role model for young men, as well as an incentive to engage for women. The success of his character has lent itself to a lesser production of sadistic, prejudiced, and pornographic material influencing the impressionable generation, the irony of his place within a desolate, fictional society creating an antithetical impression on the reality of those who digest his plot.

The joy of seeing oneself accepted within celebrated media is an undisputable joy and the lessons one inadvertently learns through the exploration of a fictional narrative can uncover subconscious truths about the very foundations of society. In a world of strict binaries that install obtuse depressions and fears surrounding the transgressional stages we as a species collectively face, a character who holds a vicarious command over his landscape is a lot easier to adore than those with influence within reality, the fallible nature of his actions and desires forgivable through his distance from reality. Yet, it is his ability to collate the diverse nature of humanity that shows his audience a fairer, more accepting reality is possible, his bringing together of opposites through fandom blogs such as the one you are on currently, a much-needed reprieve from the segregated nature of our current political landscape. In a world of dog-eat-dog, the leading moody, fallible, scarred, violent, caring, volatile, sullen, moral, courteous, and devoted survivalist holds out his arm and holster to a new generation of isolated but hopeful youths to grab a hold on.

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oh-another-dnd-blog · 10 months

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"Cultivation or Bias?"

I. Introduction Cultivation theory, by George Gerbner in 1969 in simple terms is the following, "to explain the way mass media and television, in particular, influences people over time" (Vinney, 2023). This theory being extremely relevant in our age of mass media, is seen a lot in how we interact with our modern world today.

Two timely topics where Cultivation theory shows are "Violent Cartoons make Violent Children" and "Western Politics". But is Cultivation theory actually valid? Is it something that we, as a society, really fear and worry about in how we define our world?

II. Violent Cartoons make Violent Children. If children watch action-based media with superhero's and fighting, Cultivation Theory tells us that, over time, children will be influenced to see the world in the same black and white filter that these superhero shows tell us. But is this actually true? A 2020 study from the Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies, entitled "Impact of Violent Cartoons on the Behaviour of Children: A Case Study of South Punjab" tell us a lot of information about this topic. Using their research methodology, the researchers were able to find out how kids thought after these violent cartoons. Their results tells us that, Yes, the cartoons do increase the figure of children who develop aggressive and anti-social behavior. Adding on to that, their results also tell us that children also develop fear in certain situations that mirror their superhero's circumstances. So that's it right? Cultivation theory is correct? Well that's not the whole picture.

Their study also discusses how children and their young minds,

"are not competent enough to filter out the bad information. It is the responsibility of the parents to counsel the children and guide them to consume the content of cartoon in a proper way. When this counselling is lacking, then children can learn anti-social behaviour".

This is where I wholeheartedly agree, since we cannot blame the growing mind of a child when the parents have the responsibility to filter out what they're watching and how they should interpret the media they are consuming. I personally think that the quote "Violent Cartoons make Violent Children" is often misconstrued as an attack to the youth, when it should be the obvious failure of the parental influence these children should have had in their lives.|

III. Western Politics. In October 25, 2014. Comedian and TV Host Russell Howard uploaded a video on his YouTube channel, entitled "The Difference Between US vs UK Ebola News Coverage". In this video, Howard explained how in 2014, when the Ebola news outbreak surfaced, the UK news outlets tackled it in a calm and measured tone, often giving positive messages to the public that the UK is on the forefront of tackling this outbreak and that everything is under control.

For the US news outlets however, it was shown that they were framing the entire outbreak as the next "Pandemonium", using terms like "spiraling out of control" and "spreading faster than efforts to contain it. Obviously made for comedic purposes, it shows us an important example of framing in the modern world. Since the main argument with Cultivation theory for politics is that consuming more media will lead you to consuming more of the same perspectives and develop a world view based on the same category of opinions.

But is this true? Hypothetically it makes sense, consuming more media of something we agree on, leads to shaping our worldview towards it. But this sounds more like the Psychological Barrier of Confirmation Bias more than it is Cultivation theory. Britannica, 2023 defines Confirmation Bias as "people’s tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with their existing beliefs" which sounds exactly what's happening here. Since with the ever-changing media platforms and their increasingly complex social media algorithms that shape what we watch based on what we interact with, this idea of Cultivation Theory seems to simple for us to make conclusions with.

IV. Confirmation or Bias. I personally think that Cultivation Theory is real. But it's only real because of how simple and basic it is as a premise. It fails to consider the numerous and seemingly uncountable amount of factors in our modern world that affect what we consume, understand, and share with the world around us. Going back to our examples earlier, if children do act more aggressively because of media, is that really cultivation from 'violent' cartoons or a failure of parental counseling on a child's developing mind? If someone consumes far-right politics because of their pre-conceited beliefs, is that really cultivation theory or their own personal biases that have run-amok and gone wild to the point that they can't tell if they really believe in it or just follow whatever the TV shows them.

A smart professor in Journalism once told me,

"Whoever controls the narrative wins."

In this case, to answer the question "Is this fear justified?" My answer would be yes. But this fear is only justified if you have a narrow mind and let yourself be controlled by the narrative that the media wants you to believe in. We often forget that we are more than what our emotions and biases tells us who we are. Since we are beings with free will who can make our own narrative, for ourselves.

REFERENCES Casad, B. J., & Luebering, J. E. (2016). Confirmation Bias. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/confirmation-bias Mahmood, T., Iftikhar, U., & Bhatti, M. A. (2020). Impact of Violent Cartoons on the Behaviour of Children: A Case Study of South Punjab. Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies, 6(2), 689–702. https://doi.org/10.26710/jbsee.v6i2.1212 The Difference Between US vs UK Ebola News Coverage. (2014, November 25). Www.youtube.com.

youtube

#Journalism #Cultivation Theory #Media #Mass Media #TV #Confirmation Bias #journalism student #article #Youtube

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shoujoinvestigation · 4 years

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Our 2020 Drama Recs

What a year 2020 has been - a time of tumultuous change, anxiety and reflection. During this time, dramas have certainly become a safe space for comfort and entertainment. Fortunately, we’ve also seen more and more quality dramas released in 2020!

As we head into 2021, here are our top 2020 dramas picks:

1. Winter Begonia 鬓边不是海棠红 recommended by Admin JY

The story of two seemingly polar opposite characters in 1930s China - a feisty traditionally-trained Beijing opera star and a wealthy Western-educated businessman in a setting where Western influence meets Chinese traditions. Yet when they finally cross paths, their parallels in fact draw them closer to each other. The main characters shine and sparkle both as independent characters with their own depth, flaws and quirks and with their ever-so-natural chemistry interacting with each other, in what could be the most healthy and balanced relationship dynamic I have ever seen between leads.

Winter Begonia presents brilliantly written three-dimensional, human yet relatable characters growing with each other through a time in history of change and uncertainty, in addition to great acting, beautiful costume design, production value and showcase of Beijing opera. If you are looking for a show with drama, history/culture, comedy, family, action (and tragedy), look no further than Winter Begonia for an entertaining yet reflective story of growth filled with all the *feels*.

2. A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower 摩天大楼 recommended by Admin JL

What’s your idea of a feminist drama? An ensemble of badass, confident female cast kicking ass and bonding with each other? For Horizon Tower, it is to be concealed in a mystery. Two detectives take us through the life of an attractive cafe owner after her death, retracing it through the eyes of people new to her and old ones who had known her well. They all have various things to say about her - each have a different piece of the full picture. What part of the truth do we trust? How do we, or can we judge her? While women are often expected to be the “perfect victim”, Horizon Tower says, the simple truth is, a victim is a victim, and a crime is a crime, regardless the conduct of the victim.

Horizon Tower is a sophisticated, brilliantly written and directed story. It’s fast-paced, compelling as it plays with multiple facets of the truth. There is no simple dichotomy - of black vs white, of women vs men. Instead, it fundamentally embraces the complexity of human nature - which is what makes it feminist. For me, this drama will stay in my heart as one of the most powerful and brilliant feminist stories to exist. In a time of feminist movements, it feels extra important and meaningful for China to have produced such a drama this year. Thank you for being the voice we all needed, Horizon Tower!

Watch the official episodes, subbed, on Youtube.

3. Hyena recommended by Admin JY

Not quite simply a law drama, nor a “badass” law drama turned into a sweet romance drama - Hyena is great for its culmination of confident writing featuring strong and unique characters that break stereotypes, balanced with a refreshing focus on morally ambiguous law cases.

Just as much as the focus was placed on the well-paced and exciting stakes in the legal cases featured, the drama always gave space for the characters’ legit explosive chemistry to shine through and be developed further. While KDramas have been attempting to write “badass” female leads, Jang Geum Ja always stayed true to her anti-hero and morally grey character, with her gaudy, loud masculine style, unscrupulousness and shameless ambition to the end - a truly strong and admirable female lead who may not be fully likable. Yoon Hee Jae as the male lead also deserves praise as a more sensitive and softer portrayal of a privileged and powerful male lead, without ever overshadowing others or overstepping his boundaries.

Even as someone who struggles to watch purely-law/detective dramas, there was much to appreciate and enjoy from this drama, with its quality acting, writing and even memorable OST that can only be fully appreciated by watching.

4. The Bad Kids 隐秘的角落 recommended by Admin JL

This is China’s year of high quality, sophisticated suspense dramas! Alongside Horizon Tower, The Bad Kids is certainly the one which had first carved out that status. Before it was named one of the Best International TV Series of 2020 by Variety, it had already achieved a phenomenal status in China with plenty of good fun memes and incisive meta created.

The success of The Bad Kids, in my opinion, represents creativity and the heart for storytelling triumphing over rigid, spartan censorship. It’s a testament that witty and thoughtful writing is what you need to tell a good story - and even censorship can’t get in the way of this (sometimes). It told a compelling and introspective story threading into moral fallibility while opening up questions to audience about what we perceive and know. This is a rare accomplishment when so many other recent cdrama stories are increasingly sanitised. The auteur-level of directing was vital in shaping the experience as well, down to the quirky selection of music.

So, do you believe in fairytales or reality? :)

5. Brutally Young 十八年後的終極告白 recommended by Admin JY

How far would you go to hide the secrets from your past to protect your present? - that was the simple but solid foundation that this HK Drama delivered.

A group of high school friends are forced to reunite after 18 years to unravel the mystery of a recently discovered corpse, related to their shared pasts. Through this premise, mystery and suspense unfolds as the characters’ complex motivations and hidden pasts are revealed.

Despite the wide ranging cast, many characters are given good depth and personal arcs for development, and even decent romance feels. The pace of the story is also kept tight and remains consistent and realistic throughout. Definitely an unexpected dark horse from TVB’s 2020 lineup, worth checking out!

6. Candle in the Tomb: The Lost Caverns 鬼吹灯之龙岭迷窟 recommended by Admin JL

Okay, after two heavy suspense dramas from me, is there anything more lighthearted to watch? I’m usually not an action/adventure fan, but I’ve been a fan of the remakes of Candle in the Tomb directed by Fei Zhenxiang along with his team, following after the prequel adaptation last year, The Wrath of Time.

This time, we have Pan Yueming as Hu Bayi, forming the Iron Triangle with Pangzi and Shirley, embarking on a tomb-raiding treasure-hunting adventure. Director Fei makes action digestible and fun to watch, on top of the witty script, great character-writing and performance - true to canon (as far as possible). As far as old fans of the franchise and new ones of the drama know, this is the best remake so far. I’m looking forward to the next instalment, The Worm Valley, likely out early 2021!

Watch the official episodes, subbed, on Youtube.

Let us know what your picks for 2020 are!

Written and gifs by Admin JY and Admin JL, unless stated otherwise.

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atheistforhumanity · 3 years

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The Anti-Democracy Vein of America

It is 2021 and we are in one of the most important stages in American politics: Redistricting. Every decade, after the nationwide census, each body of government in America gets to redraw the lines of voting districts to accommodate changes in population, growth or loss, and comes with a chance to put the opposing party at a disadvantage. Not only can it be used to gain a party advantage, but it is also used to disenfranchise the poor, minorities, or religious populations. Redistricting is a crucial process in our democracy because it determines the fairness and accuracy of the people’s representation in government. It is a highly difficult and contentious process that our Founding Fathers never intended to deal with.

We were all taught that the Founding Fathers were amazing visionaries that fought for the freedom and power of the people over the evil Monarch. Truth be told, our Founding Fathers were only fighting for the elite and only took small steps away from the tyranny known under the Monarchy. Today people often mix up the words republic and democracy and think they are synonymous because of the government we have today. However, a republic is only a form of government that uses representation. Voting is not an automatic component and some of our Founding Fathers were highly against it.

Something you have to understand about the philosophy of their day was that freedom did mean the same to them as it does us now. Liberty as part of freedom was a new and growing idea, but freedom in western history was always something for those with power. One identified themselves as free because they had liberties and rights that others did not have. To not be a slave was to be free, but the assumed right to freedom was always for the White aristocracy. Our founding fathers were terrified of democracy, because they knew full well the common people would demand to be seen as equals. They saw this as an attack of their freedom, and on their property. John Locke originally stated that all men had the right to Life, Liberty, and Property. That idea was adapted in our founding and changed to Life, Liberty, and Happiness. The colonial aristocracy that became our American government were not shy about the fact that they possessed so much and others so little. They were terrified that democracy would lead to redistribution of wealth and property. The key ideas behind anti-democracy were the belief that having property and power others do not is part of being free, the concept that true freedom is not for everyone, and the idea that anything that would raise the common people up toward their level is an attack on their freedom.

This line of thinking thinking can be followed easily throughout American history. Since the founding of our nation there have been 15 laws passed to expand our democracy and access to voting. Now there is yet another law, which is desperately needed, to further protect our rights to vote. Each law passed required decades or more of fighting, which included massive amounts lobbying, protests, and community action.

We can still see anti-democratic influences alive and well today. The Citizens United decision to declare money free speech was an obvious move to silence the voice of the people so that the wealthy once again have a massive advantage in influencing our nation. Attempts to legalize discrimination against LGBTQ people and religious minorities, all while rejecting immigration is all in line with the concept that having freedom means possessing rights, liberties, and opportunities that others do not. In fact, just as with slavery, they see the power to discriminate as a prime factor of being free. Poll taxes, a tactic that literally restricted the poor from voting, were only abolished in 1964. That’s around the time my parents were born. That was not very long ago. Furthermore, in 2013, Republicans managed to roll back a section of the Civil Rights Voting Act, which they’ve been fighting to rip up since the 60′s. This removed extra measures that ensured access to voting.

However, the greatest threat to our democracy is act that is performed during this time redistricting. That is of course Gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is the act of drawing voting districts in a way that always give you constituents a majority, even though the lines are supposed to be drawn so that all people will be represented equally. During the last redistricting, Republicans employed a massive Gerrymandering campaign that disenfranchised, minorities, the poor, and anyone likely to vote democrat. The result was that in state and presidential elections the Republicans gained more power than their actual percentage of votes could account for. This essentially renders large swaths of voters as meaningless, as if they did not get to vote at all. Right now, a battle rages over redrawing lines and Republicans are being called out for unfairly disenfranchising minority communities as they do every cycle. America never wanted minorities to be able to vote, which is part of the concept of freedom where restricting the rights of others makes you more free.

While conservatives have always carried on the anti-democratic position, after a presidency full of attacks on democracy and our ethical foundation, we are facing an unprecedented attack on the the people’s ability to vote. Conservatives argue that these measures are to improve election security, but that is a thinly veiled lie and we know this for two reasons. The first is that they claim to be fighting an issue that does not exist, massive voter fraud. Republicans have complained about this for years and years, but have never been able to produce any evidence that it has ever happened. Second, is that the laws they enact have been proven to disenfranchise mainly minorities and low-income voters. Again, these are the voices that have always been targeted by the American government. Trying to pretend that it is by coincidence that these practices only have a profound negative effect on these vulnerable populations is nothing but deception. .

Now, when I say this attack is unprecedented, that means that if a majority of these restrictive bills are to pass, then we will live in the most difficult time to vote in the last 50 years. Here are the states that are passing new restrictive voting laws:

Here are the laws proposed so far:

Republicans are trying to push us back in time and regain the disproportionate power that our founders had intended for the white, wealthy, elites. Check your state and your counties to see if someone is trying to pass restrictive voting laws near you, and fight like hell!!

#voting rights act #VOTE #Redistricting #gerrymandering #politics #Republicans #conservatives #Liberals #Progressives #US politics #racism #fascism #anti-democracy #Freedom #Liberty

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tepkunset · 4 years

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@avatarfandompolice is a blog that likes to misuse progressive language in attempt to make ignorant, racist posts sound more intelligent than they are. While most of their blog consists of arguing about ‘zutara,’ (which I recently learned is a ship name for Zuko and Katara from an anon), there is also a large number of posts and reblogs under the premise of being “hot takes” on how unfair it is to address racism in fandom and in media.

Avatarfandompolice is very sensitive about people pointing out that Avatar: The Last Airbender is not, in fact, flawless. That a show made by two white men featuring Asian and Indigenous characters and influences is fully capable of getting things wrong. That their western colonial views are influences all on their own, and it shows. Rather than listen to fans of colour point out things like these posts for example: [Link] [Link] [Link], avatarfandompolice has decided that such things must simply be fake, and has made multiple posts complaining it. This is not just regular ignorance, this is wilful ignorance. The dismissal of critique simply because they cannot fathom not everyone being able to handle the amount of issues they are freely educating others on, or people holding the ability to like something overall while also pointing out where it could be better.

It is my firm belief that you should never absorb media with an uncritical eye. If this was the case, if people just accepted everything given to them, then we would never see any progress. We need to be able to look back at something and say here’s what we did right, and here’s what we need to do better with.

The argument that A:TLA was made in 2012 and therefore should not be analyzed with a modern understanding of the world is downright hilarious, too. As if we aren’t taught to write literature analysis on books and plays that are centuries old in school. In particular regards to the whole cop thing... if anyone reading this seriously thinks that hate and fear of the police is just a 2020 trend, you can meet me in the pit. I was four years old when I learned how terrifying cops are. If your experiences differ, let me tell you that does not make them universal. And as for all the 20-somethings talking about it today, well, gentle reminder that as said by avatarfandompolice right here, the show aired in 2012. Little 10-year-old kids don’t have social media, (at least I hope they don’t,) and unless they grew up experiencing first-hand police terror, probably were not aware of it at that age. I do not know why avatarfandompolice insults people's ability to grow and learn. I can only guess it’s jealously from their lack of ability to do so.

Now let’s address their defences of whitewashing, which is easily the most backwards reaching I’ve seen on this issue in a while. Primarily their defence relies on four repetitive “points” —

Fake minuscule percentages to downplay the high prevalence and extremity of whitewashing in the fandom

Deflecting the addressing of whitewashing with rapid-fire fake scenarios and claims of “reverse racism” / “blackwashing”

Claiming whitewashing isn’t real because people only care about it with Katara

Claiming that calling out whitewashing in fandom is wrong because it hurts artists

I have only so much as dipped my toes into the A:TLA fandom, and even I have seen a lot of whitewashed fan art. If you do an image search for fan art, I guarantee within the first couple rows of results, there will be in the absolute least, a few examples. The idea of these artworks not substantially lightening skin is also just plain inaccurate. Just from a quick Google search, this is literally the first result for ‘Avatar The Last Airbender Katara fan art’:

Avatarfandompolice is also hyper-focused on the lightening of skin, and seems to be under the impression that this is the only component of whitewashing. I come to this conclusion because when someone pointed out the equal prevalence of depicting these characters of colour with Western European features instead of their actual eyes, noses, etc., they rip a giant turd out of their ass and scrawl the words “but stereotyping” over it. No, not all Asian peoples and Indigenous peoples look the same. The original poster made no such claim of this at all. Avatarfandompolice jumped to this conclusion all on their own... (which really says a lot in itself). It is entirely unrelated to the point. The point being the erasure of how these characters look, in favour of giving them whiter features. And guess what? This does hurt. But I’ll get to that below.

The lack of understanding of whitewashing is on full display when avatarfandompolice talks about “blackwashing”; the idea that colouring characters with darker skin is just like whitewashing. Firstly, there is no such thing as “blackwashing.” “Blackwashing,” “brownwashing,” etc. does not exist because it is a false equivalency to whitewashing. It is a false equivalency to whitewashing because white people are not even in the slightest loosing representation when a white character is re-imagined as a racial minority, whereas when racial minorities are re-imagined as white people, they are taking away from what is already very little representation for us. If we lived in a world where the statistics of representation were not so drastically disproportionate, then there would be something to talk about. But if you are really wanting to support equality, you should focus on equitably supporting those who actually need it, not white people. As for specifically depicting characters like Sokka and Katara with darker skin than what they have in the show, the same applies, (so long as it’s not racebending them as we really shouldn’t be taking representation away from each other, and the artist avatarfandompolice ridicules above has done no such thing,) because colourism also exists within nonwhite communities as well.

As for the fake questions about cosplaying, the answer is really simple: Cosplay however you want, but don’t make pretending to be a different race part of your cosplay. If you want to cosplay Katara, you can do it without painting your skin darker, aka brownface. If you want to cosplay Zuko, you can do it without editing yourself to look East Asian, aka digital yellowface. The racist history behind this is an internet search away, but I suppose that is too difficult for avatarfandompolice to do.

Avatarfandompolice has made multiple claims that people must not really care about whitewashing if they only call it out for Katara. It is laughable at best, and sad at worst, that this is the conclusion they come to, and not the fact that unfortunately Katara just happens to be subjected to more whitewashing than other characters. I assume this is from a mix of her popularity as well as being a WOC and not MOC. This is not to say that whitewashing does not exist with male characters—not in the slightest. Half the images on this “10 fan art pictures of Sokka that are just the best” list from CBR are whitewashed. Only that across fandoms, whitewashing is more prevalent in female characters, by my observations at least.

Finally—and this one pisses me off the most—avatarfandompolice claims that whitewashing is no big deal, but calling out whitewashing is too harmful to justify. How fucking dare you put the feelings of artists who can’t handle critique of their work (that they publicly share) over fans of colour, who are constantly subjected to seeing our identities and looks not being worth respecting. As if it doesn’t imprint on your mind from a very young age how only villains ever have your facial features, because they’re ugly and I guess that means you’re ugly. As if there is something wrong with you. As if respecting you is regarded as extra effort, and not just common courtesy.

Whitewashing is a form of colourism, which is a form of racism. It is the favouritism, unconscious or not, of white features and the erasure of visible characters of colour. It is not fandom drama. It is not being too lazy to focus on “real issues” because it is part of a real issue. It is yet another part of why fandom spaces are so uninviting to POC. We live in a society that favours lighter skin. Corporations make fortunes from selling products to bleach your skin, products to contour your features away or go as far as surgery, all to meet beauty standards set by and influenced by white colonizers. That does not exist in A:TLA, and that’s called refreshing escapism. But it’s hard to escape that when the fandom constantly reminds you otherwise. It is a perfect example of how the classic “just let people enjoy things” complaint is nothing but disguised racism, because it’s only ever said regarding white fans’ enjoyment, at the expense of fans of colour.

None of the characters in A:TLA are white. Redesigning them and recolouring them as if they are, be it out of accident or intent is wrong. If you get called out for it, apologize, learn from the experience and do better going forward. You’ll also improve your art this way.

Beyond excusing whitewashing, avatarfandompolice has overt racist posts as well. A Black fan said they like to headcanon Katara as being partially Black; “I swear Katara was a sister. Im convinced there ain't no way she didn't have some black in her.” Avatarfandompolice jumps in saying “She's literally an Inuit but ok” as if being an Inuk person means Katara can’t possibly also be Black. The OP never claimed Katara was not Indigenous, simply that they also saw her as Black. Black Indigenous peoples exist. Black Inuk peoples exist. It is overtly anti-Black to say otherwise. But what even is the point of talking to avatarfandompolice about that? You know, you would think in trying to put such a front up of caring about the Inuit, they would do the most basic learning of the proper grammatical use of Inuit and Inuk. (As is the case with a great many Indigenous Nations, Inuit is both the Nation and plural. Inuk is singular. “An Inuit” / “Inuits” as avatarfandompolice has used just makes their dressed-up racism all the more pathetic. It’s similar to as if you said “Chinas” instead of “Chinese”.)

But all this is nothing, nothing compared to the worst post I had the displeasure of seeing. In a single post, avatarfandompolice manages to squeeze in insult against low income people, Mexican people, Jewish people, and Black people in a mockery of financial help posts. Absolutely disgusting, childish behaviour from a place of privilege. As someone who has had no option but to make such a post before, more than once, let me fucking tell you that the embarrassment and desperation when in that situation is unparalleled. It is not done lightly. It is done when you are at the last resort of having nothing but hope that the combined generosity of others will be enough to save you and your family. And what adds a whole other level to the odiousness of avatarfandompolice’s post is that they specifically targeting low income minorities to boot. Because we’re all poor beggars, right?

All in all, for someone who prides themselves in calling others ignorant, avatarfandompolice has to be one of the most obtuse fandom blogs I have ever scrolled through. They are as vile as they are pathetic, and my sincere sympathy for anyone who has been unfortunate enough to interact with them. It has been a while since I so strongly recommend blocking someone.

#avatarfandompolice #atla #atla fandom #racism #whitewashing #long post #fit for a queue

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graces-of-luck · 4 years

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What is my aro latinidad (Carnival of Aros, March 2021)

I’m hosting Carnival of Aros this month (call for submissions can be found here) with the theme of intersectionality and inclusivity, and I figured I’d write a bit about my thoughts and experiences related to this.

There is no denying that the aromantic community is marginalized. We are small, often not acknowledged or recognized, pushed aside…This feeling is something I recognize as an experience of another aspect of my identity. A lot of people experience this multiple marginalization. Our different identities intersect and mingle and can sometimes create complicated, messy, entangled stories of ourselves. To compartmentalize these is to deny ourselves the expression of our whole selves. This is why I find intersectionality so important.

It makes sense that the aromantic community focuses on aromanticism. But we cannot deny that there can be many different ways to experience aromanticism. We engage in community and activism for several reasons: finding connection, having a place to be ourselves, increasing visibility, creating resources, and so forth. But I think an important reason for activism is to liberate ourselves. But we cannot liberate ourselves if we don’t include those who are marginalized for other reasons. It’s all of us or none of us. We may one day be able to “expand” the system to include us aromantics, but if we neglect those of us who are marginalized in other ways, it will be a false and tenuous freedom. It will become “alright, you’re allowed to be aromantic and we accept you, but only within this boundary.” This is the problem that I see with mainstream LGBTQ+ respectability politics. We complain about how “love is love” leaves us out… but we may be doing the same to our fellow aros if we don’t take diversity and intersectionality into account in our own community.

As I learn more about myself, the more realize how many times over I am a minority. But I will focus on one aspect of myself that I think receives little attention in the aromantic community. I am Latine. Specifically, I am a Latine immigrant, which influences how I experience my latinidad (and whether I am allowed to experience and express it).

Latine culture can have a rather strict view on marriage and children (especially in more conservative/religious populations). Getting married and having children is just something you do. It’s a duty. Depending on how strict it is, romance and attraction can be considered secondary (although I do see that changing). In a way, there is no romantic (or sexual) orientation because it doesn’t matter. Gay? Lesbian? Bi? Pan? Aro? Doesn’t matter, you still get married to someone of the “opposite” sex and have children. You might be queer, but it’s not something you do or act on. When I was a minor, dating was strictly prohibited in my household. The parents of my Latine peers were also often rather strict about dating, especially with girls. After I became an adult, my parents started pressuring me into dating but with the express purpose of getting married, not necessarily for “finding the love of my life” or for the purpose of romance. Saying things like “I’m not interested in dating or in romantic relationships” were often met with looks of “alright, and…?” Saying “I don’t want to get married and have kids” is what caught their attention.

I grew up with my parents telling me that family is the most important thing because you can’t rely on friends. “When you get older, your husband is going to be the only person you trust, and you can’t ever let friends interfere in that.” Now, an important detail. We are religious cult survivors. So it’s difficult for me to disentangle how much of this is due to distrust from trauma and being programmed (cults often program you to be insular and cut others out) and how much of it is due to amatonormativity and the cultural view on marriage. We are also immigrants, and marriage is often seen as a necessary (financial) safety net, so that could be a factor there too.

With all this, I find it difficult to come out to my family, not only because of potential backlash, but because… how do I even explain to them what a romantic orientation is? They’re aware that there are gay people, for instance, but to them that’s not an orientation. They would have to understand that 1) it is possible to be something other than straight, 2) it’s not a “lifestyle choice”, and 3) not being straight is not a consequence of trauma or abuse or mental illness. So I find often that coming out guidelines don’t really work for me because of this. Coming out as aromantic is already difficult because explaining aromanticism can be an ordeal in and of itself. In my case, I would have to start from the very beginning. Not to mention that the process and expectations of coming out are in some ways dominated by Whiteness.

One thing that was complicated in my aromantic journey is the differences in intimacy in Latine culture and in American culture, where I primarily grew up. For example, physical intimacy and affection are much more common and prevalent amongst family members and friends in Latine culture. In America, this is often reserved for romantic relationships. I am a physically affectionate person. Living in the US, you can guess the issues this brought. There has been growing acceptance of physical affection in friendship in American society, but it is frustrating to see how physical affection and other forms of intimacy are often considered romantic. This occurs even in the aromantic community sometimes, although much less so and I would say there is much more understanding that various forms of intimacy can occur in friendship. But it is sometimes odd for me when something I’d consider typical intimacy in friendship, such as physical intimacy, gets potentially labeled as sensual attraction. It would be great to see discussions on intimacy and relationships across cultures.

Also, as is in many areas, Latines and Hispanics tend to be left out or thrown in later as an afterthought. There is increasing recognition for the need of diversity in terms of racial and ethnic groups. Latines don’t always fit in neatly with PoC, so I wonder, where do I fit in? That same question arises when I see “aros of color” or “aro poc”… I’m a mix of things, but I am whitepassing (and therefore have White privilege). Let’s not forget the colonial and anti-Indigenous prejudices that have completely divorced me of my Indigenous heritage (greatly self-inflicted in my family). So I’m unsure if I can claim the aro of color label. But I also don’t completely fit into the typical White mold of the US or Western Europe, which are often considered the symbols of Whiteness. Nonetheless, because of living in the US and now Western Europe, their ideas of intimacy, relationships, and romance have been inflicted upon me as well. There is this feeling that aromantic community is largely White (at least the part of it that has garnered most attention), so the development of my aromantic identity has been shaped by this Whiteness. And it’s been a process for me to discover what a Latine version of my aromanticism would be. I don’t know yet what that is, to be honest. Latine culture can be diverse, and my version of latinidad is also complicated by the fact that I am a lifelong immigrant. Too American for Latin America, too Latine for America (funnily enough, my Latine identity is basically non-existent in Europe, I’m often just seen as American). Still, I would like to see more stories from Latine aros. I want to hear about what aromanticism means to Latines and how other Latines navigate coming out in their families. It seems that maybe there aren’t many Latine aros out there, but having more representation, while just a first step, would be so meaningful.

#carnival of aros #aromantic #aro intersectionality #culture #latine aros #cw religion mention #cw queerphobia #cw amatonormativity #cw romance #long post #gracedwithluck

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dailyexo · 4 years

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[INTERVIEW] Lay - 200819 Rolling Stone India: “How Lay Zhang Claimed The Throne of M-pop”

"The singer-songwriter and producer offers an in-depth look into his latest record ‘Lit,’ his evolution as an artist and finding the balance between East and West

When I last spoke to Lay Zhang in 2018, he was embarking on an ambitious but daunting journey to bring Mandarin pop aka M-pop to the world. “I hope they think, ‘This artist isn’t bad,’” he had said with some trepidation in his voice. “I hope that they find my music special and maybe… they’ll want to learn more about me and Chinese music.” The singer-songwriter and producer aspired to create a true hybrid of traditional and modern music, a sound that defines our generation’s ability to package the past for the future.

Zhang, more commonly known by his stage name LAY, first debuted in 2012 as a member of world-famous K-pop group, EXO. Although he remains a member of the group, he’s spent the last couple of years in China to focus on a solo career and spotlight his own country’s burgeoning pop scene. It’s a process he kicked off with his second studio album Namanana in 2018, but he was still some time away from realizing his dream of pushing Chinese pop to a global stage.

It’s been nearly two years since our conversation for Rolling Stone India’s November 2018 cover feature, and any signs of trepidation are a thing of the past for LAY. We could chalk it up to him being two years older and wiser, but I’d like to think it’s because he kept his promise to bring M-pop to the world. If Namanana was just a dip in the pool of fusion experimentation, his latest studio album Lit is the deep dive.

“It is the evolution of M-pop for me,” LAY explains. “I wanted to take it to another level. When you hear the Chinese instruments, you know it is a different sound and vibe. The style is more pop, R&B, and hip-hop influenced with the Chinese instruments thoughtfully mixed in.” Comprising a total of 12 songs (all written and co-produced by LAY) Lit was released as two EPs instead of one LP; the first dropped in June while the second made its appearance in July. Nearly every track presents a fresh blend of traditional Chinese instruments like the hulusi, guzheng, flutes and gong with modern genres like trap, R&B, soul, hip-hop, future bass, dubstep and more. It’s a complex, refined and intricate record, utilizing production techniques that clearly outline LAY’s growth as an artist over the past two years. In retrospect, Namanana comes across a slightly more naive record–innocent and optimistic with a hope that international audiences would embrace both M-pop and LAY. Lit however seeks to take a different path and carves out the future LAY envisions with cool confidence and fearless production.

The tracks seesaw smoothly from Mandarin to English and back, with LAY showcasing both his vocal and rap skills. It’s an extremely powerful and expansive album, hair-raising at some moments due to the sheer surprises the artist packs in (at one point I hear what sounds like the tabla on “Call My Name” and it catches me totally off-guard.) Some of the collaborators on the record include big names like hip-hop hitmaker Murda Beatz, Grammy Award-winning producer Scott Storch, composer and producer Mitchell Owens and Grammy-nominated songwriter Mike Daley to name a few. For the title track “Lit,” LAY recruited China-native Anti-General who created a vicious and chilling trap/dubstep beat to complement lyrics that decimate LAY’s haters, gossip-mongers and the media, challenging them to come forward and take him down if they dare. The track sees the singer-songwriter rightfully crown himself a ‘king’ and leader in the music industry.

If that wasn’t enough, the music video for “Lit” is without a doubt one of the best released in 2020. With hundreds of extras, dancers, impeccable CGI and a compelling storyline, it’s more movie than music video, portraying LAY as a warrior king who refuses to be defeated. As executive producer, music director and co-choreographer on the project, LAY pays homage to China’s rich history and culture with tons of historical references and traditional symbolism. I tell him I particularly loved the symbolism of a white lotus emerging untouched and pure from the black ink–representing LAY’s rise in the industry–and he shares that the magnificent dragon that appears at the end was his personal favorite. “It was super important that we added it in,” he says. “It represents my wishes, aspirations and my relentless desire to always pursue perfection in the works that I create. I want my dancing, visuals, and music to be the very best it possibly can be.”

Lit is also thematically more complex and layered than any of LAY’s previous works, exploring concepts that revolve around confidence, love, fame, the media, success and more. “The album continues to explore chasing your dream,” the singer explains. “This time it’s about more personal things in my life. Like hometown, family and self-doubt.” A phonetic play on the word for lotus (莲 / lian) in Mandarin, ‘lit’ is a clever pun used to describe LAY’s similarity to a lotus and his prowess as a musician. He named the album after the lotus because of the symbolism of it growing and blossoming from dirt or mud. The lotus also continues the theme of duality with Lit’s two-part release, and, according to LAY’s team, “represents a new birth plus a new sound in the midst of all his past achievements.”

The album’s success more than speaks for itself– when the pre-order for Lit went live on China’s QQ Music streaming platform, nine certification records were instantly broken as it surpassed 1.5 million pre-orders within seven minutes and 19 seconds. This immediately pushed the EP to Number One on QQ Music’s daily and weekly album sales charts. Lit has also made LAY the best-selling artist in China in 2020, with a whopping 2.5 million records sold. It’s a testament to his drive and determination as an artist, the attention to detail and refusal to back down. The record’s international success was no less, hitting top 10 positions on iTunes charts across 32 countries, bagging 21 Number One spots and firmly cementing LAY’s position as the global megastar that he is.

Some things however, never change; brand deals, TV shows, multiple singles, EPs and collaborations keep his schedule completely booked and– just like back in 2018– it’s extremely tough to pin him down for a conversation. He’s currently in the middle of filming a reality show and has several other projects in the pipeline, but still makes the time to catch up and answer a few questions for Rolling Stone India. In this exclusive interview, LAY details his most successful record yet, the journey of finding the balance between East and West, dealing with the dark side of media attention and why the relationship between an artist and their fans needs to be a two-way street.

Congratulations on the release and tremendous success of Lit! It is an absolutely phenomenal record and I was thrilled to see you explore so many new streams of production. Can you tell me a little bit about the process of making this album and do you feel you met your own expectations for it?

For this album I wanted to mix in Chinese traditional instruments and tell Chinese stories. It is the evolution of M-pop for me. I wanted to take it to another level. When you hear the Chinese instruments you know it is a different sound and vibe. It is hard to say if I met my own expectations. As an artist you never ever feel your work is perfect. You can always find spots where you can improve. But I think what I was able to do with my team in the time we had was great.

You dove deeper into the fusion of tradition and modernity on this album than Namanana—there was a larger variety of Chinese instruments used as well as bilingual wordplay with language in the lyrics. In what ways do you feel you’ve evolved as a producer and songwriter since that album to Lit?

I am still trying to find the right style and combination to share my music and Chinese culture with the world. Lit was an example of my growth. I had this desire to include traditional stories and instruments from Chinese culture. Trying to find the balance with the Western music was challenging. I had to think and spend a lot of time arranging the chords around and fitting everything together. Also with this album I am talking about things in a more personal level and taking time to explain with more of an artistic style. I feel like I am growing up on this journey.

Lit is the first part of a series of EPs which will make a whole LP—why did you want to release it in this format and when did you begin working on the record?

I split it into two parts to give time to people to listen to it. I feel like if I released 12 songs at once, people may not give enough time to listen to each track. But when there are just six tracks each time, then it gives people time to listen more carefully. I started this project maybe early 2019.

The title track “Lit” is about your battle with the media, hateful netizens and malicious comments/rumors. Does it get easier over time to deal with this obsessive analysis of your life or does it never really ebb away?

It will always bother you, but over time you learn to deal with it. You focus on it less and less and back on what you love doing. When I make my music or learn dance or do anything I love, I kind of forget about it. Just focus on your goals and dreams and everything else becomes background noise.

The music for “Lit” is, in my opinion, the best of 2020 so far. Can you tell me a little about your role as the executive producer and music director on this project? How did the concept come about?

I was very involved in the project. I oversaw a lot of things that happened and discussed with almost everyone on the team on how to achieve my vision. When I was making the song I was thinking about how do we share Chinese culture. I thought filming in an ancient palace would catch people’s attention. It took off from there when discussing with the director. We started adding more and more elements of Chinese culture. We were trying to tell the story of Xiang Yu, a warlord who rebelled against the mighty Qin Dynasty but wasn’t able to conquer China. I’m Xiang Yu, but I’m trying to change my fate and succeed in my goal.

You incorporated Chinese Peking Opera in the music video version of the track and visual elements of Peking Opera in the album art for “Jade”–What was the motivation behind that decision and is there a particular story that the opera section references?

I wanted to bring people back in time to ancient China. I reference the traditional Chinese story of Xiang Yu and his love, Concubine Yu, so then I added in select passages from the Peking Opera Farewell My Concubine which tells their tragic story.

You displayed your incredible skills in dancing in this music video and you recently talked about how dancing was a way for you to show the audience who you are. Did you feel a sense of relief that the audience can see you or understand you a bit better after the release of “Lit”? Can the audience ever truly understand an artist?

It feels good to know people can see me and understand me more. I don’t think people can ever understand an artist completely. But they can relate to many things. I think that is a challenge for an artist to see how they can use their music to connect with people. It is a worthy challenge.

How do you hope that the artist you are today crafts the Lay Zhang of tomorrow?

I always believe in working hard and improving. I hope that the Lay Zhang of tomorrow continues to keep looking for ways to improve his art. I hope he never gives up his dreams.

Last time we spoke, we talked about Asian traditions represented in global mainstream pop culture. Now as you’ve grown as a megastar, you are one of the leading names in pop filling that space, bringing your heritage to the stage. Why is it important for our generation to see ourselves and our histories represented on these platforms by artists?

It is important for people to remember where they come from. They should know their own history and how their culture came to be. Also, it lets other people know another culture and have a deeper understanding. It can stop miscommunication and it helps people be closer to each other.

Why do fans need to see themselves in an artist? Does it work the same on the other side, do you as an artist see yourself in your fans?

I want fans to be able to relate with an artist. It is important for a fan to see themselves in artist and an artist to see themselves in a fan. When you can see each other you are able to understand each other better. You can connect with each other and really feel things.

I absolutely love the ‘Re-Reaction’ videos you have been doing for years and it means a lot to your fans that you take the time to do it. Why did you want to do this series and what does it mean to you to be able to connect with your fans like this and see them react to your work?

I am curious to know what fans and people think of my work. I want to know where I can improve. I want to keep growing as an artist. But also I want to let my fans know that I am reading their comments and I see everything they say.

Other than releasing more music, what are the rest of your plans for 2020? Do you have any film projects that you’re looking at taking up or are you planning on doing something completely different?

I am busy filming a TV drama and a few reality TV shows for the rest of 2020. A very busy schedule.”

Photo links: 1, 2, 3, 4

Credit: Rolling Stone India.

#EXO #EXO M #Lay #200819 #exo im #exo m im #lay im #p:news #t:news #fs:rolling stone india #comeback:Obsession

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fyexo · 4 years

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200819 How Lay Zhang Claimed The Throne of M-pop

“’Lit’ continues to explore chasing your dream. This time it’s about more personal things in my life. Like hometown, family and self-doubt.” Photo: Courtesy of Zhang Yixing Studio

“I don’t think people can ever understand an artist completely. But they can relate to many things. I think that is a challenge for an artist to see how they can use their music to connect with people. It is a worthy challenge.” Photo: Courtesy of Zhang Yixing Studio

Lit is the first part of a series of EPs which will make a whole LP—why did you want to release it in this format and when did you begin working on the record?

How do you hope that the artist you are today crafts the Lay Zhang of tomorrow?

I always believe in working hard and improving. I hope that the Lay Zhang of tomorrow continues to keep looking for ways to improve his art. I hope he never gives up his dreams.

“I want to keep growing as an artist. But also I want to let my fans know that I am reading their comments and I see everything they say.” Photo: Courtesy of Zhang Yixing Studio

Why do fans need to see themselves in an artist? Does it work the same on the other side, do you as an artist see yourself in your fans?

I am busy filming a TV drama and a few reality TV shows for the rest of 2020. A very busy schedule.

Riddhi Chakraborty @ Rolling Stone India

#exo #lay #t: interview #album: lit

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newstfionline · 4 years

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Headlines

Western wildfires (NYT) Across a hellish landscape of smoke and ash, authorities in Oregon, California and Washington State battled to contain mega-wildfires on Sunday as shifting winds threatened to accelerate blazes that have burned an unimaginable swath of land across the West. The arrival of the stronger winds on Sunday tested the resolve of fire crews already exhausted by weeks of combating blazes that have consumed around 5 million acres of desiccated forests, incinerated numerous communities and created what in many places was measured as the worst air quality on the planet. “There’s just so much fire,” said Ryan Walbrun, a fire weather meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “And so much smoke.” The fires, which have killed at least 24 people in the last week alone, have engulfed the region in anguish and fear, as fairgrounds have turned into refugee camps for many who have been forced from their homes.

The Maitre d’ Will Take Your Temperature Now (NYT) In recent weeks, a new cadre of gatekeepers armed with thermometer guns has appeared at the entrances of hospitals, office buildings and manufacturing plants to screen out feverish individuals who may carry the coronavirus. Employees at some companies must report their temperature on apps to get clearance to come in. And when indoor dining resumes at restaurants in New York City later this month, temperature checks will be done at the door. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the practice of checking for fever has become more and more commonplace, causing a surge in sales of infrared contact-free thermometers and body temperature scanners even as the scientific evidence indicating they are of little value has solidified. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York last week called for checking patrons’ temperatures as one of several ground rules for resuming indoor dining in restaurants, along with strict limits on the number of tables and a mask mandate for diners when they are not seated. Restaurants also will be required to obtain contact information from one guest at each table.

Voting by mail (California Sunday Magazine) Voting by mail is an increasingly attractive and necessary option for voters, but it requires actual infrastructure to accomplish, large machines to be built and acquired, and a significant effort to get the ballots where they need to be. In 2016, 20 percent of Americans voted by mail, but this year it could be as high as 50 percent. A commercial grade printer can make 50,000 ballots in an hour, but it takes an enormous $500,000 device called an inserter to get the envelopes—linked by barcode to a specific voter—appropriately stuffed at the clip of 14,000 ballots per hour. The process is meticulous: when in 2014, an inserter misfired for 35 seconds in Phoenix, 232 voters in California and 1,000 in Colorado and Arizona got misprinted ballots, and when they caught the error they were able to fix that. The other 3.8 million ballots handled at the facility were fine.

As Sally chugs to coast, Gulf residents get ready (AP) Hurricane Sally, a plodding but powerful storm with winds of 90 mph, crept toward the northern Gulf Coast early Tuesday, with forecasters warning of potentially deadly storm surges, flash floods spurred by up to 2 feet (.61 meters) of rain and the possibility of tornadoes. Hurricane warnings stretched from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to Navarre, Florida, but forecasters — while stressing “significant” uncertainty — kept nudging the predicted track to the east. That eased fears in New Orleans, which once was in the storm’s crosshairs. But it prompted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare an emergency in the Panhandle’s westernmost counties, which were being pummeled by rain from Sally’s outer bands early Tuesday.

Russian opposition leader Navalny able to leave hospital bed (AP) Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is off a ventilator and is able to leave his hospital bed briefly, his doctors said Monday, while Germany announced that French and Swedish labs have confirmed its findings that he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. Navalny, 44, was flown to Berlin for treatment at the Charite hospital two days after falling ill on a domestic flight in Russia on Aug. 20. Germany has demanded that Russia investigate the case. Although noting the improvement in Navalny’s health, the statement didn’t address the long-term outlook for the anti-corruption campaigner. Doctors have previously cautioned that even though Navalny is recovering, long-term health problems from the poisoning cannot be ruled out.

Lukashenko meets with Putin (Foreign Policy) More than 100,000 protesters flooded the streets of the Belarusian capital of Minsk on Sunday in one of the largest demonstrations against the rule of longtime President Aleksandr Lukashenko since his disputed victory in last month’s presidential elections. Police said they detained 400 people during the protests. The demonstrations came before a meeting between Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled for today, during which they will reportedly discuss deeper integration of their two countries. Lukashenko’s relations with Moscow had deteriorated in the months leading up to the election, but he has since warmed to Moscow again as the threat to his reign has grown more acute. Putin recently confirmed that he would send a reserve police force to Belarus if Lukashenko requested it.

US issues sweeping new travel warning for China, Hong Kong (AP) The U.S. on Tuesday issued a sweeping new advisory warning against travel to mainland China and Hong Kong, citing the risk of “arbitrary detention” and “arbitrary enforcement of local laws.” The new advisory warned U.S. citizens that China imposes “arbitrary detention and exit bans” to compel cooperation with investigations, pressure family members to return to China from abroad, influence civil disputes and “gain bargaining leverage over foreign governments.” “U.S. citizens traveling or residing in China or Hong Kong, may be detained without access to U.S. consular services or information about their alleged crime. U.S. citizens may be subjected to prolonged interrogations and extended detention without due process of law,” the advisory said.

In Japan, coronavirus discrimination proves almost as hard to eradicate as the disease (Washington Post) When a cluster of coronavirus infections broke out in Kyoto’s Horikawa Hospital, medical staff were not only battling a potentially deadly disease at work. They came home to fight an even more unsettling disease—fear and discrimination. Their children were turned away from nursery schools and after-school clubs, their spouses were told not to come to work, three were fired from their second jobs and one was told point-blank to stay away from a favorite diner. “Our staff were really shocked, severely shocked,” said Masaaki Yamada, the hospital’s administration chief, explaining that the affected workers had not necessarily been in close contact with infected patients. “Some even said they were afraid to go home, and afraid of being seen by their neighbors,” he said. “They got family members to put the garbage out for them. Some said they would go to work when it was dark and come home when it was dark again.” The hospital received anonymous phone calls telling employees to die or threatening to burn the place down. Nearly nine months after the coronavirus first arrived in Japan, “korona sabetsu” (coronavirus discrimination) is proving almost as hard to eradicate as the virus itself.

Mideast deals tout ‘peace’ where there was never war (AP) For the first time in more than a quarter-century, a U.S. president will host a signing ceremony between Israelis and Arabs at the White House, billing it as an “historic breakthrough” in a region long known for its stubborn conflicts. But while the optics of Tuesday’s event will evoke the groundbreaking agreements that ended decades of war between Israel and neighboring Egypt and Jordan, and that launched the peace process with the Palestinians, the reality is quite different. The United Arab Emirates will establish diplomatic relations with Israel, a fellow U.S. ally it has never gone to war with, formalizing ties that go back several years. The agreement cements an informal alliance against Iran and could pave the way for the UAE to acquire advanced U.S. weapons, while leaving the far more contentious Israeli-Palestinian conflict as intractable as ever. A similar agreement announced Friday with Bahrain, which welcomed a visiting Israeli Cabinet minister as early as 1994, also formalizes longstanding ties. But it’s debatable whether agreements like these, among already friendly countries, do much to advance regional peace. “Normalization of states in the region with Israel will not change the essence of this conflict, which is the systemic denial of the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to freedom and sovereignty,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official.

Nigeria reels from twin crises that threaten food availability (Reuters) Mal Shehu Ladan took a boat across what was, until this month, a growing rice paddy. Now, like thousands of hectares of rice in Nigeria’s Kebbi state, it is under water. Floods early this month across northwest Nigeria destroyed 90% of the 2 million tons that Kebbi state officials expected to harvest this autumn, the head of the state branch of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria told Reuters. The loss amounts to some 20% of the rice Nigeria grew last year, and the waters are still rising. Farther south, outside Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, chicken farmer Hippolite Adigwe is also worried. A shortage of maize forced him to sell most of his flock of more than 1,000 birds, and the 300 left are hungry. Chicken feed prices have more than doubled, and he isn’t sure how long he can cope. Twin crises, floods and maize shortages, come just after movement restrictions and financing difficulties caused by COVID-19 containment measures complicated spring planting. Some farmers and economists say it could push Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, into a food crisis. Rice is the country’s staple grain, and chicken is a core protein. “There is a real fear of having food shortages,” Arc Kabir Ibrahim, president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria told Reuters. “The effect on the food system is going to be colossal.”

After Two Decades of Rot, Zimbabwe Is Coming Apart at the Seams (Bloomberg) In Zimbabwe, pregnant women are left alone in hospitals to give birth, taps have run dry in major urban centers, infrastructure has all but collapsed and more than half the population needs food aid. This is the toll that two decades of economic mismanagement have taken on a nation once considered one of Africa’s shining stars. Promises of an economic revival and more political freedom made by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, now in his third year of rule, have rung hollow and public anger over intolerable living conditions has spurred protest action that’s been brutally quashed by the military. Western governments that berated long-time ruler Robert Mugabe for violating civil rights are leveling similar criticism against his successor. And even South Africa, a regional power broker and long-time Zimbabwe ally, has now entered the fray, dispatching envoys and ruling party officials to Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, to try and help its neighbor resolve the deepening crisis. No headway was made in initial talks and more are planned in coming days.

#headlines #news

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thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 5 years

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Can we have the tea on why firefly getting cancelled was a good call tho?

My confidence on this website grows in direct proportion to my follower count, and thus the opinions I post get steadily more controversial. I actually got a mostly-positive response to my pro-Twilight post, so [glances around nervously] [dons fake beard] here it is:

IMHO, the producers were right to meddle in Firefly after its pilot, and they were right to cancel it after 12 episodes.

I enjoy Firefly. I’ve rewatched “Safe” and “Out of Gas” over a dozen times, I had a Serenity poster on my wall in college, and I’ve got Mal’s quote about statues as an epigraph in my current NaNoWriMo project. However.

First: they were right to kill the pilot. (And I don’t mean Wash.)

The biggest problem with the first first episode, in a nutshell, is Mal. He’s a potentially intriguing character, but he’s not likable, he’s not competent, and he’s not entertaining. No antihero has to be all three, but every antihero has to be at least one, right off the bat. A couple examples of antiheroes that got whole shows:

Dexter Morgan (Dexter) is a literal serial killer, so definitely not likable, but the pilot showcases that he’s terrifyingly competent with cellophane and also has an entertaining interior monologue.

Greg House (House MD) is questionably competent, and not that likable, but he’s highly entertaining because he immediately makes us laugh.

Jed Bartlett (West Wing) is largely incompetent at social matters, and he’s not funny at first, but he’s immediately charismatic and likable.

Frank Castle (Punisher) isn’t classically entertaining, and he’s not likable, but he’s shown as highly competent from minute one.

Malcolm Reynolds isn’t funny at first. He responds to insults by punching Simon in the face or throwing Jayne out of the room, barely tolerates Zoe’s fond teasing, and doesn’t joke around much. Malcolm Reynolds isn’t likable at first. He acts openly contemptuous toward Book’s and Inara’s chosen professions, seriously considers killing Simon for trying to protect River, loots corpses, and ignores Kaylee. Malcolm Reynolds isn’t competent at first. He fails twice to find a fence for the protein blocks, fails to detect either Simon’s or Dobson’s lies, gets himself and his first mate shot in a bad deal, and barely escapes with his life. He tells Simon that any day where he manages to keep his ship in the air counts as a success.

I don’t want to watch an entire show about this guy after seeing just the pilot, and I sympathize with anyone who feels the same way. The only moment in 120 minutes of screentime that intrigues me is the smash cut between Mal announcing to Simon that Kaylee died and Mal roaring with laughter with the rest of his crew over a prank well-pulled. It’s competent, funny, likable, and enough to make me want to tolerate this guy long enough to see what he’s going to do next. I don’t blame the producers for demanding that we see Simon-pranking guy more, Simon-punching guy less.

The other tone or setting inconsistencies in the pilot — the characters riding horses when they’ve got a faster-than-light ship, the dirt and platinum constructions, the Chinese vendors offering street meat made out of dog, the heroic depiction of the vainglorious Confederate Browncoat cause, the crew all being fluent in Mandarin but not having a single Asian character in the whole cast* — make it hard to get a sense of what the show is meant to be. The different elements just don’t make sense together.

Contrast that with “The Train Job,” the second first episode. There are undeniably Western and sci-fi elements, but they actually make sense together: instead of characters inexplicably swapping land speeders for horses, there’s a spaceship swooping low over a bullet train. Crow uses frontier weaponry, but it’s an intimidation tactic, and he does own a blaster. The Asian-influenced elements make a lot more sense, appearing mostly as background details that hint at a melding of cultures. Mal is warm and affectionate with his crew, willing to joke around to entertain the audience, and at least 43% less misogynistic toward Inara. Niska plays an important role in plot and character, setting up the possibility that we haven’t heard the last of this plot and also acting as a foil to the Serenity crew, who might kill the occasional unarmed prisoner but at least do their best not to poison entire towns.

Is “The Train Job” as unique an episode as “Serenity”? Nope. Does it do a better job at getting someone who’s never heard of this show before to want to tune in next week? I think so.

And then the cancellation.

Obviously, we’ll never know if people would’ve kept on turning in, because the series got less than a single season. And I think that was the right call, from the producers’ point of view. Firefly as a show might not have had the budgetary demands that, say, Game of Thrones did, but even an amateur like me can take one look at that series and go “damn, that looks expensive.”

There are NINE (9!) main characters, with series-regular salaries.

CGI was a lot more expensive and time-consuming in 2002, and literally every episode includes some exterior footage of the ship.

Every single episode involves the characters, or at least the cameras, leaving the ship and going to different phantasmagorical settings.

Even “Out of Gas” and “Objects in Space” had to take the time and money to build the junkyard and Jubal Early’s ship, respectively.

“Trash,” “Serenity,” “Jaynestown,” “The Message,” and “Heart of Gold” each introduces (and requires a build for) an entirely new fake planet.

Every single episode involves minor characters, and over half of them involve crowd scenes that require hundreds of extras.

Horses. And cows. Cost money. As Wash says, shoulda gone with the counterfeit beagles.

The Serenity set itself was built to scale. That’d save money in the long term, but in the short term required more camerawork to actually film in partially-enclosed locations. When you add in the fact that the on-planet shots always required dollies, cranes, and similar equipment, it adds up.

On a similar note, “the Firefly shot” (as it became known) requires days of planning followed by hours of shooting to include all of the characters in one single extremely long camera pan (almost five minutes long, the second time it happens). As a stylistic choice, it was a pricey one.

If Firefly had been spectacularly successful right from the start, it might have been able to justify its enormous budget. The fact that it was modestly successful didn’t justify the amount of money it was sucking from other projects. Over 90% of shows that make it as far as network deals never even get a pilot; over 90% of shows that go so far as shooting a pilot never make it past that first episode. The network decided to spread the love (and the budget) around, rather than sinking it all into a single project currently taking the place of maybe a dozen other potential shows.

Not only that, but Firefly didn’t have a ton of options for cutting its budget down. It could use fewer camera tricks, but that wouldn’t change the need for CGI just to convey the basic premise of the show. It could cut a character or two, but the cast would still be unusually large. It could have fewer on-planet scenes, but there’s only so much one can do with the characters if they’re cooped up inside their ship the whole time. Firefly was also leeching resources away from that team’s two other enormously successful projects – Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel — and the low ratings of Buffy’s season 6 and Angel’s late season 3 into season 4 reflect that fact. If it’d been allowed to continue, Firefly ran the risk of killing both those golden geese without ever getting to the point of producing eggs itself.

Do I wish there was more of the show out there? Yes. Do I wish the show had had time to evolve, hopefully into something with fewer problems of casual racism? Hell yes. Would I have pulled the plug as well, if I’d been in the room when it happened? Probably yes.

*I am aware of the theory that, given the heavily Asian-influenced settings in the “Safe” flashbacks, the popularity of “Tam” as a Chinese last name, the choice of dark-haired light-skinned actors, and specific elements of the family’s pressure to excel but conform, that the Tams are meant to be Chinese. Given that all four actors are white, and that there are already ample problems with anti-Chinese racism in this show, I strongly prefer not to ascribe to that theory.

#firefly #serenity #nothing to do with animorphs #firefly negativity #serenity negativity #joss whedon #whedon negativity #long post #anonymous #asks

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lookingattheedgeoftime · 4 years

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The first few chapters of my end of the world novel, written out of boredom while working in Africa many years ago. You will be the first ever to read this if you want.

The World

In 2025 Quebec declared independence from Canada after years long, systematic campaign of terrorism by the separatist movement. This “independence” was deemed unconstitutional buy the Federalists and they refuse to acknowledge Quebec's right to do so. The Federalists attempted to force Free Quebec into submission with an economic embargo and the threat of military occupation. There was a provision in law and precedence set in the 1970's to initiate war measures act. This provision would allow the federalists to occupy the province. Threats were not successful and the in 2026 Prime Minister enacted the War Measures Act and ordered the Military to take control of the government buildings in Hull. The Quebec government declared this to be an invasion of their legal territory and a civil war in Canada was initiated.

By late 2027 the civil war in Quebec is in full swing. The Federalists fighting against the Quebec government in a protracted engagement along the borders and waterways of the former province. The Free Quebec forces were entrenched and working to repel the federalists who searched the length border for weak spots and try to expedite these weaknesses. The indigenous Indian populations (The First Nations) in Quebec have extensive land claims, for a huge portion of Quebec. Particularly long the Quebec / USA borders areas the federalist forces deemed to controversial to attack from. The aboriginal community took umbrage with the French claiming the entire province for themselves. As a result of the conflict the cross border activities were brought to an end and resulted in the collapsing their economy. Historically the First Nations also had justifiable issues with significant history of rejected land claims and had little expectation this conflict would result in better treatment. They saw the victor in this conflict as a winner takes all situation and it became seen as a and time to act against current and future oppressors. They were an well-armed motivated people and engaged in a guerrilla war against both sides. Simultaneously throughout the other Canadian Provinces the First Nations took positive control of as much occupied and disputed lands as possible and blockaded their reservations from the rest of Canada. Other than in Quebec these blockades turned into an impasse rather than out and out war.

The government of the United States of America decides to tried preserve it's considerable assets in Canada and ostensibly to aid in the stabilization the situation by supporting the government of the remaining parts of Canada. This was achieved by with a strong NATO insertion mobilized from the United States. This merely escalated the situation, other provinces with unrealized Independence agendas reacted to the influx of foreign fighters and other guerrilla fronts are formed. Primary in the west the NATO forces are seen as occupiers and were engaged vigorously by the new independence militias. All sides in the conflict take a terrific amount of casualties. This process drags on, it is thought mostly due to the unwillingness of the Canadian government to commit weapons of the types that would damage infrastructure of Quebec. The Free Quebec government has no such qualms and in the areas about to be taken by their opponents were laid to waste.

Radical right in the United States of America were incensed by the NATO involvement in this war with their next door neighbours on two levels. One is that the military power of NATO is being mustered in the eastern The United States of America. They feared that once the forces have quashed the uprising in the North they will be applied to deal with the unruly and becoming more powerful militia movements in the Northern States. The second and the biggest concern is NATO is working against the government of a sovereign state and believe that the sanctity of the free The United States of America is in dire jeopardy by NATO's power.

Mid 2028 the troubles in Quebec have escalated to a peak and both troops from Canada and NATO are fighting against two resistance movements. Within the Provinces in siege, The fighting was bitter and retributions against the general population seen as supporting the resistance movements become more common place. Free Quebec and the First Nations had settled into guerrilla warfare. These two groups are also working outside the borders of Quebec independently to undermine the power of the Government of Canada in the other provinces. The methods of the citizens sympathetic to either cause are terror, sabotage and assassination. The Militia Movement in the United States of America sets up a coalition between like minded groups within the borders of the United States of America (Religious Groups, White Supremacists disgruntled military factions and politicians) and begin a concerted effort to over throw the government of the United States of America.

This starts a domino effect with the plethora of other factions wanting a piece of the pie. Some of these are very strong (African American, Hispanic and Asian Groups). They mobilize forces to control their own areas and protect their people from the Coalition of primarily white forces. Powerful Drug cartels south of the border see this turmoil in the United States as a opportunity to cement their influence in the southern States. The republic of Mexico, long subjected by US policy and a victim of systemic discrimination see this a opportunity and side with the Cartels and set their sights on reclaiming territory lost to them in the past. The slogan adopted by these forces somewhat ironically, is “Remember the Alamo” apparently seen a the event that there loss of power and territory of their nation.

2029 - The rest of Canada not in conflict with Ottawa, is failing under the burden of supplying fuel and manpower to the war in Quebec. As well as having to deal with their own significant problems with the NATO the First Nations and Militias. The result is once loyal provinces to the central government, broker other deals and decided to join the fray in opposition.

2030 - North America is in chaos, the United States of America is suffering huge strife due to the anarchy caused by the tactics of the various combatants within and outside their borders. The Militia and Ethnic groups bombings, attacks and assassinations of government and political detractors to their agendas are common place. The United States recalls it's forces abroad to face the growing crisis. Canada and NATO are still fighting in Quebec and the Western and Maritime Provinces are more than voicing separatist rhetoric, using captured weapons to enforce their ideals. The Aboriginal, French and English populations in Quebec and Ontario are greatly reduced. There is a continued huge backlash from the Native movement in Canada as well as the United States of America. Communities near reservations are attacked and looted. Extremely harsh retribution is dealt out in all cases by the governments of Canada and the United States of America. Europe and Asia cut off diplomatic ties with Canada and the United States of America because of the miss use of NATO forces and the ethnic cleansing being initiated in North America. NATO recalls what is left of the non-American contingent back to Europe and the fight is continued by the Governments Canada and the USA under the same banner.

2029 - Radical groups in the Developing Nations of the world see a golden opportunity to strike against the West. A virulent strain of the Ebola Virus currently rampaging through the poorest parts of Africa is introduced in volume to major Cities throughout the United States of America. Utilizing the returning war fighters from abroad, either infected by Martyrs or on purpose for a never ending list of other reasons. These carriers enter virtually all airports and other points of entry available in the United States, Canada and even through Mexico carefully muled across the borders. The result is huge amounts of first disease cases in North America. The aftermath is the infection and death of 50 % of the population of North America. Through the wonders of air travel and the infiltrators meant for the USA, it spreads immediately into Mexico and South America. Panic ensues in the war torn countries, foreigners not willing to leave are deported and the gift of mutated virus is given back to the rest of the civilized world.

2030 - Total Suspension of Civil Rights in Canada and the United States of America.

Similar situations are have cropped up in Europe and Asia it is a time of illness, war and rumours of war. With the largest health risk in the last several centuries being the mutated contagion most countries in the world close their borders. It is an attempt in vain to stop the spread of this plague. It is for not, throughout the world in very short time and huge portions of the population dying from the effects of the former tropical disease, not before passing it on to their families, first responders and care givers. The WHO and other such agencies are helpless to stem the tide, the need for anti-virus far outstrips the ability to produce it. The dedicated professionals succumb at the same rate as their patients. With the lack of trade the western world, the European, Middle Eastern countries and Asia are thrown into not only a health but financial crisis.

2032 - Collapse of the world economy, anarchy reigns throughout the world. Only the most remote Countries and Areas are surviving mostly by physical separation and systemic eradication of attempted refugees.

2032 - In order to protect its borders from active aggression from the surrounding countries, the now isolated Israel launches low yield nuclear attacks against its neighbours. The neighbours who had spent decades readying themselves for such and attack reply in kind. The result is the Middle East is reduced to a wasteland that will produce little but fusion glass and cancer for generations. The fallout darkens Africa, Europe and most of Asia.

2034 -The world is no longer a highly organized place. In the vast majority of World Nation's organized government are no longer in control of their populace. Pretenders to the power such as separatist movements, expansionist regimes, financial opportunists, religious zealots die just like the rest. City-states are formed around centres that had a military or other power presence. The other cities and towns decline to isolated areas with populations of roving bands, killing and looting to survive. For the first time in several centuries mankind's numbers are declining at a geometric rate.

An event that started in a huge under populated country has been the impetus of the fall of mankind. But like all good infestations the struggle to live is paramount and globally small groups form and eke out a existence. This is the story of one such individual.

Nathaniel's World

At this point in his life, like most of the people of the world, he was not living the best of times. The New World order has receded to the New World chaos. Citizens of all Nations live in isolated pockets struggling to feed their loved ones and trying to find solace in anything that explains the way it has become. They have little protection against their former leaders or organizations powerful enough to become leaders. Although the population as a whole is one-tenth the size it was ten years before. Famine and disease is still pervasive in the Americas, Europe and Asia. The only outpost of relative prosperity is Australia and they have completely isolated themselves from the world. Airlines do not fly, banks no longer exist, worldwide communication has been reduced to Morse coded messages via cable lines between the outposts of civilization. These pockets of structure and organization disappear at a constant rate.

In the now distant past the North American political system ceased to exist and the population has fended it's self. In the past Governments had enacted powers to seize weapons in an attempt to limit the possibility of a revolution or separation by the provinces or random acts of violence. The result of this is after the decline when the need for security is the greatest there was none to be had. It has left the population unable to defend themselves from the basest elements of the society. A similar policy of the seizure of private assets was enacted to fund the war with Quebec and the Aboriginal population. This generally reduced the population of rich or poor to the same level subsistence and a process of survival of the fittest is the standard.

The wars within Canada and the U.S.A. ended eventually not from a victory but because the armies had been reduced to minimum levels and there was not the material to feed them or fill their weapons. When the few fighters that remained returned to their homes they found vulnerable, impoverished, people with not enough food and little desire to continue living. As thanks for the soldiers efforts, they where stoned in the streets by good and bad alike.

Politicians fared worse, they and their families where hunted down like dogs and murdered. The fabric of society was torn, lawlessness reigned as civic control was lost.

The were exceptions to the rule, one sector of the population the was relatively unaffected by this action was the criminal element. At the onset of the decline the organized criminal fraternities initiated actions against the authorities outside of the general mayhem of the many wars that were raging. They took their place in the new world with assassinations, bombings and looting. In the beginning these occurrences where perceived by the authorities as revenge of the rank and file masses against a totalitarian regime. Retribution was dealt out mercilessly against the normal population. This was much easier than dealing with the real instigators because of their organization's strengths. This policy was ineffective for obvious reasons and after the control structure further weakened by these actions. Once these groups held the upper hand, the criminal element concentrated their activities against the people, taking what they wanted.

During this period the constructive elements in the society, the businesses, the people who had managed to continue to work did no better. They had their resources taxed to past the breaking point. The only places to continue to apply their still needed skills was to groups who could pay in food, medicines or protection.

Money, gold, property and any of the other trappings of wealth had no value at all. The criminal elements resorted to harvesting the last natural resources available and this was by the systematic looting and murder of the population. Law and order was a thing of the past and the population was at the mercy of the gangs of looters.

Other than the Criminal elements, other groups with other agendas began to form. These groups unlike the criminal ones in normal times would be considered closer to the norm. The new wealthy, the ones who once were considered paranoia preppers. Built bomb shelters, hoarded food and armaments barricaded themselves into walled continuities and protected them with mercenaries paying them from the stock piles they had hoarded. Religious groups would attempt to hunt for resources in a communal fashion, as would former political and paramilitary forces.

With controls lost in the large centres transportation of the necessities of life had long ceased. Cities with abundant sources of power such as Hydroelectric or Nuclear continued to work on automated systems. Cities that required imported fuels for power and services turned into cold dark ghost towns.

The population in large centres as well as the rural communities had been further reduced not only from disease and violence but by starvation as well. The rural communities that fortified and isolated themselves did the best. They continued to produce the necessities of life for their groups and sometimes were able to fight off the organized bands of looters.

Part one

Something evil this way comes

She could hear them coming up the front stairs, they groaned with the weight of heavy footfalls. No sooner than they had reached the top of the long flight of steps, they began to force open the entrance door. The men were laughing and calling to the two women they knew were inside the house. Defenceless women were there candies to them, they seemed to feed on the terror.

A busy night had been had by the gang, several of the houses in the once upscale cul-de-sac were burning, illuminating the predawn sky. The mother was waiting at the top of a small set of stairs that led down to the entrance landing where the door was being forced open. She was in tears as was her daughter, both of their faces showed fear and rage. From the front window of the house they had seen the marauders execute several of the remaining neighbours and now it was their turn.

The house was a four level back split design. The first level was the garage facing the street, It also contained the mechanical area, spare room and a crawl space. This was directly under the third level. A short set of stairs brought you up from the garage to the second level at the back of the house. This second level was the family room and a large bed room. The kitchen, dining and main living room area comprised the third level. The three main bedrooms occupied the fourth and final level. From the living / dining room on the third level there was a sun deck facing out over the garage. In the better days, a nice feature. On a warm summer night to sit and take in the cool air and view the mountains in the distance. Also allowing one to call down to the kids that would inevitably playing on the drive way that supper was ready. The house was the most elevated on the block and the only access from the street other than the boarded up garage door was the set of front steps. There was a landing at the top to access the main door and a once inside few more steps to take you into the main room. The only other entrance to the house was the back door off the second level. In better times the house was one of the nicer residences in the middle class subdivision. Now like the rest was a derelict, by all intentions soon to be yet another burned out husk.

The house next on the left had mostly collapsed because of a accidental fire in the early years when people first tried to made do in the depths of winter with fire as a replacement for natural gas. There was a large amount of thick undergrowth prohibiting access to the sides and rear of the house. The alley that served the back of the houses on that side of the street had been blocked by wrecks of cars and refuse for years. Like the garage door all the other entrances were boarded over as were the windows. The ones far above ground level were painted over and mostly boarded up with only a slit to look through. The only open access that was not completely sealed was the door to the balcony over the garage, this was the way they came and went with the help of a extension ladder that was carefully hidden.

It was an optimal night for the looters. A cool moonlit night. Cool was important, it was so they could see light from houses and apartments that were not well prepared. The light would be caused be the occupants were trying to warm themselves with a fire. If it was not the flickering of a cozy fire, it was the warm smoke escaping the domicile's chimney. The full moon allowed easy mobility and communication. They were not the sort that wanted to work during the day when people might put up a fight. Better to sneak up in the dead of night when people were alone and boarded up. The menacing laughter and the sounds of burning wood prevailed in the hollow night as they ransacked the houses. This evening they had concentrated the days work thus far, were the more accessible homes who's entrances were on the ground floors and showed signs of life. Although the house was in darkness and looked abandoned, it had attracted the looter's attention when the teen-aged girl had screamed in horror, at the murder of a neighbour's family. She had baby sat the children in the past, a boy and a girl. No longer toddlers, now well into their teens. Regardless, no one in their right mind could bear to see them die, Certainly not Molly. The gang of looters had dragged the family on to the street as they had done the others. So far six houses in the small neighbourhood were ravaged, the occupants life's blood draining into the gutters. Their prized possessions in a growing pile in the centre of the street. Although there was murder, looting and pillaging, strangely at this late point in the night there was no raping. Perhaps the emaciated people they were victimizing were not as desirable as the hangers on to the tribe were, perhaps the blood lust was enough.

The adults were the first , on their knees in the moon light, the mother then the father, both of their throats opened with a long filet knife. The children shrieked in terror at the sight, then the boy, finally the girl. Before the girl rolled onto the pavement another wail pierced the already chaotic night.

When they saw the mother pull the girl away from the balcony window the looter's attention shifted. The focus of their activities became the large blue house across the street.

The boarded up door flew open with their weight and four of the looters stumbled into the entrance with the momentum of the others behind them. Their expectation was to see helpless new victims to play with. However the woman held to her shoulder a Savage side by side 12 gauge shot gun. It's barrels were cut down to just below eighteen inches, the pattern the shot would print the diameter of the base of a good sized coffee tin at eight feet. That was proved by the bloom that appeared on the chest of the first man through the door. He uttered a gasp and fell back against his compatriots, he clawed at the wound in his chest as he collapsed onto the landing. This was a complete surprise to the new occupants of the entry way and to the group on the stairs. Firearms or more importantly ammunition was unheard of, the game had dramatically changed as did the looters desire to enter the house. The explosion of the shotgun in the dark confined space was deafening. In the dark of the entry way the muzzle blast was like a flash of a camera. The second barrel spewed out its projectiles at the next intruder with similar effect. This time the pellets went high on her target and several of the people in the entrance way were hit by the buckshot. This added to their confusion with the blood and tissue being sprayed about in the restricted space. The ones not incapacitated by the pellets and bone fragments wanted out of this kill box in the worst way.

The shotgun was empty, she snapped open the action of the Savage and the two spent twelve gauge shells, were ejected over her right shoulder with a pop. Instead of reloading she slid the shotgun up to the crook of her left arm and she pulled the Smith & Wesson, model 640, five shot, 357 mag pistol from the black nylon belt holster at her hip. She raised the small stainless steel revolver and fired double action into the crowd. She methodically fired with care, picking the centre mass of the dark shapes. Moonlight had turned on them, instead of a big help, it silhouetted them in the entrance way. The pistol jumped in her hand and the results of the shots and the hits were spectacular. The detonations in the confined space were phenomenally loud, the light coloured walls reflected the light of muzzle blasts. The hits by the 158 grain pistol rounds did substantial damage to the first target. But with the retained velocity and energy continued through the first man, on the next and in some cases the next man after that. The wounded and soon dead tried to claw past the still standing, trying to escape her fire but were met with resistance from the balance of their number trying to get inside inside the entrance in panic as well. Apparently they weren't having a good time waiting on the stairs outside.

At the same time the looters forced the front door the teen-aged girl walked out onto the balcony over the garage, well separated from the attacker below her she helped the looters pay for their crimes. She fired her Marlin 1894 lever action, nine shot, 357 mag rifle into the heads and backs of the men on the steps leading into the house. The combined attacks of the two women equated to a crossfire, it chewed up the looters. They fell down the stairs or over the edge of the railing like a water fall of bodies. The Mother's Smith ran out first, she grabbed the still smoking pistol with her left hand as she opened the action of the gun with her right hand. With the cylinder out, she dumped the still smoking spent cases onto the floor, by depressing the plunger several times. With her right hand she reached down to her belt and took out a SKS push / pull speed loader and dropped the new rounds into the cylinder.

With the firing from inside the door way ceasing the remaining few looters stumbled into the entrance to avoid the fusillade from the girl on the balcony. One started to ascend the first set of stairs momentarily forgetting the woman inside. She dropped the speed loader and grabbed the butt of the small revolver, snapping the cylinder in place with her right index finger. She raised the pistol and straighten her arm. She looked down the sight line and fired point blank into the head of the man climbing the stairs. The other men trying to avoid the shooting from outside were sprayed with the brains and skull fragments of their compatriot. The girl on the balcony moved back against the wall of the house and reloaded the rifle. It required both hands and a great amount of concentration to force the shells past the loading gate in the near dark conditions. She could hear the bark of her mother's Smith and the screams of the dying. As the last round exited the two and a half inch barrel of the S&W, young girl leaned over the balcony and fired a round into the top of the head of the last standing bad guy on the stairs. He fell to his knees and added his mass to the pile in front of the broken in door.

She then walked to the front of the balcony and began searching for targets on the street. Like her mother, the young girl had never shot a living thing before but had practised extensively with the firearms, dry firing them to get used of the actions. She had the training to sight the looters on the street and deal them. Her distances where set by her father and in the small circle of houses corrections for elevation were not required. Some of the hits were not lethal blows, but at least they were bad enough to incapacitate the recipients and leave them writhing on the ground in a puddle of their fluids.

Seeing the lack of new opponents, the woman reloaded her Smith and Wesson and placed it in it's holster. Then she picked up the speed loader she dropped and put them in the pouch it had originated from. She stuck her right hand into her pants pocket and pulled out two more shotgun shells and dropped them into the savage and snapped it closed with a quick motion of her left hand.

She turned and ran down the stairs to the second level to the back of the house and carefully looked through a gap between two pieces of wood that covered the window. She could see that no one had ventured into the back yard so far. This was a very good thing from her perspective defending both entrances would most likely lead to failure. As it was was guaranteed that even if they survived the night and the house was still standing, the following night a distinct reversal of this outcome was inevitable. This was scenario that they had discussed for years and now the time had come. It was with great regret that she prepared to leave her home and abandon what remained of their lives.

She pulled two of the three pack sacks that were in the family room on that level of the house, into the bedroom next to it. She knew that it would be unlikely that the third pack would make it through the night but it was the only note she could leave that might be able to tell the story that the two of them had survived.

In the corner of the bed room was a desk, she pulled it away from the wall. It was hinged and pivoted easily away from the recess, revealing a trap door. It led to a hand dug tunnel to the far side of the alley behind the house. Her husband had dug it, shovel full by shovel shoring the walls and roof as he went. It was not big enough to stand but sufficient to bring in supplies and move out of their cul-de-sac clandestinely. It had proved to be structurally sound and weather proof over the years. Designed to be the method they used to come and go when they wanted to avoid detection. Now it was their only salvation and their last hope.

The young girl chose her last target and fired into the centre of the dark shape. She could see the remaining marauders trying to get close with torches with out exposing themselves to the young girl's wrath. After the last case was ejected from the receiver she abruptly turned and walked into the house. She pulled the yellow disposable ear plugs out and even though her ears were slightly ringing she heard her mother calling her from the lower level, “Molly we are out of here”. As she walked through the living room the first torch flew onto the balcony. She reloaded the rifle as she travelled though the house. Looking around at the home she had lived in all her life.

They left through the tunnel and walked north, the supplies in their packs would last a month and they would not stop until then.

#my novel

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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Some Iranian Hard-Liners Urge a Bold Gambit: Direct Talks With Trump https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/world/middleeast/iran-hard-liners-trump-talks.html

As Conflict With U.S. Grows, Some Iran Hard-liners Suggest Talking to Trump

By Farnaz Fassihi | Published July 19, 2019 | New York Times | Posted July 19, 2019 |

Iran’s most revered Revolutionary Guards commander says talking with President Trump would be admitting defeat. The country’s supreme leader has ruled out any dealings with Washington.

But now, in a surprising split among Iranian hard-liners, some are expressing a different opinion: It’s time to sit down and resolve 40 years of animosity with the United States, by talking directly to Mr. Trump.

And the most striking voice in that contrarian group is former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, largely known in the West for his anti-American bombast, Holocaust denial, and suspiciously lopsided victory in a disputed vote a decade ago that set off Iran’s worst political convulsions since the Islamic revolution.

“Mr. Trump is a man of action,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said in a lengthy telephone interview with The New York Times. “He is a businessman and therefore he is capable of calculating cost-benefits and making a decision. We say to him, let’s calculate the long-term cost-benefit of our two nations and not be shortsighted.”

Mr. Ahmadinejad’s remarks are among several signals from different ends of Iran’s political spectrum that Iranian officials want to talk as the risk of armed conflict with the United States has escalated.

The tensions were punctuated on Thursday by Iran’s disclosure that it had seized a foreign tanker in the Persian Gulf and by Mr. Trump’s assertion that American naval forces in the region had downed an Iranian drone.

Iranian officials on Friday denied that the Americans had downed one of their drones. (Mr. Ahmadinejad, who spoke before the Americans first reported their claim about the drone, said through an aide on Friday that it had not changed his view that both sides should talk.)

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran, who had previously insisted there could be no negotiations with the United States unless it rejoined the nuclear agreement Mr. Trump abandoned last year, said Thursday he was willing to meet with American senators to discuss possible ways out of the nuclear crisis. For the first time, Mr. Zarif floated modest steps that Tehran would be willing to take in return for the simultaneous lifting of sanctions Mr. Trump reimposed.

Within the rivalries that pervade Iran’s political hierarchy, the American educated Mr. Zarif is a big contrast to Mr. Ahmadinejad, who as president pushed Mr. Zarif out of government. Yet both are now seeking ways to communicate with the Trump administration.

Mr. Ahmadinejad’s self-aggrandizing demagogy in some ways makes him Iran’s version of Mr. Trump, in the view of some Iranians.

But he still commands a following in the country of 80 million, mostly among low-income people who associate his tenure with better economic times and cash subsidies from the government.

He also has a seat on the elite Expediency Council, a body appointed by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to supervise the work of elected officials.

While he was disqualified from running for president again two years ago, he still travels around the country making speeches and writing open letters criticizing the government and the judiciary.

Unlike other hard-liners, he dares to criticize the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps for its influence over Iran’s economy and the power it gives Mr. Khamenei, who has sole authority to direct the vast paramilitary force.

“Ahmadinejad is shaking things up by boldly talking about all the issues that everyone knows but nobody dares talk about publicly, and be willing to pay the cost,” said Roozbeh Mirebrahimi, an Iranian political analyst based in New York.

Lately he has become the most high-profile hard-line figure to advocate the unorthodox view of talking with Mr. Trump.

In The Times interview, which lasted more than an hour, Mr. Ahmadinejad said that Tehran and Washington should directly resolve the litany of disputes that began with the 1979 revolution, the seizure of the United States Embassy, the taking of American hostages, the mutual accusations of regional meddling and all the rest.

Mr. Ahmadinejad said Iran should scrap the approach of enlisting Europe and other intermediaries to influence Mr. Trump over his hostility to the 2015 nuclear agreement. This would be possible, Mr. Ahmadinejad said, if Mr. Trump first eased some of his “maximum pressure” tactics, most notably the onerous sanctions he reimposed after having abandoned the agreement, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, between Iran and the big powers.

“World peace, economy and culture would greatly benefit from us working together,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said. “The U.S. wants to address wider issues than the J.C.P.O.A. The issues at stake are more important and wider than whether the J.C.P.O.A. should live or die. We need to have a fundamental discussion.”

Mr. Ahmadinejad said he had written three letters to Mr. Trump: in February 2017 to congratulate him on his election; in June 2018 after Mr. Trump had exited the nuclear deal; and last month as the forces of both countries were facing off in the Persian Gulf.

Mr. Ahmadinejad said he sent all three letters, which offered long philosophical musings and governing advice, via mail to the care of the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, via message to Mr. Trump’s Twitter account and to a White House email address. The Swiss Embassy looks after American interests in Iran in the absence of direct diplomatic ties.

It was unclear if Mr. Trump ever received the letters. White House officials said they needed more information about precisely how and when they were sent but pointed out that Mr. Ahmadinejad could not have directly messaged them via Twitter because Mr. Trump does not follow him. The Swiss Embassy in Tehran declined through a spokesman to comment.

Mr. Ahmadinejad said he had not been reprimanded for attempting to correspond with Mr. Trump and that Mr. Khamenei can change his mind and approve negotiations with Washington if the administration shifts its approach. He pointed out that Mr. Khamenei, who has the final word on Iran’s relations with the United States, had allowed nuclear talks with the Americans under President Barack Obama.

The timing of the messages of both Mr. Ahmadinejad and Mr. Zarif were notable: The Trump administration has sent several signals in recent days that it wants to begin talks with Iran with “no preconditions.”

And for the first time since Mr. Trump abandoned the nuclear agreement, both sides are talking about the need to negotiate, even if each has set out unilateral demands that the other must meet.

There is no guarantee, of course, that both sides will find a way. Mr. Khamenei has described Mr. Trump as an evil trickster and has prohibited talks with him under any circumstances. And Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the elite Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards who is rumored to be a future president, has said that talking to Washington would be like surrender.

Mr. Ahmadinejad conceded that for talks to happen, in his view, the United States would need to soften its approach.

“If you choke the throat of anyone in the world and say come and talk it won’t be valid,” he said. “Negotiations must take place in calmer, more respectful conditions so they can be long lasting.”

In the past few weeks Iranian media have reported that besides Mr. Ahmadinejad, at least three prominent conservatives have advocated talks with the United States, underscoring the divisions in Iran’s hierarchy.

Brig. Gen. Hossein Alaei, the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards joint forces and founder of its navy, said, “We must use the mechanism of negotiations and should not set aside talking.” He also criticized the decision not to sit down with Mr. Trump when he offered talks without preconditions.

Mojtaba Zonnour, a conservative cleric and head of Parliament’s national security committee, said that the “Islamic Republic is not running away from talks and the path to talking remains open,” but that it should take place within the framework of the Iran nuclear deal.

Mohammad Reza Bahonar, a prominent leader of a conservative political party, said the Islamic Republic had learned in its 40-year history how to turn “maximum threat from the enemy” into “opportunity.”

“In the current ping-pong situation between Islamic Republic and Trump’s craziness, intermediaries have entered and we’ve had some serious discussions and prepared several scenarios,” Mr. Bahonar said of the potential for negotiations.

In trying to present himself as a political alternative for Iran, Mr. Ahmadinejad tried in The Times interview to walk back some of his comments and policies that are considered incendiary in the West.

On Israel’s right to exist and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said that he would accept whatever Palestinians decide in a free election.

On the brutal crackdowns by his government on protesters and dissidents contesting his re-election in 2009, Mr. Ahmadinejad denounced the clashes and tensions but said that the other side should have accepted the vote. He contended it was not his decision to place his political adversaries, the opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi, his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi under house arrest.

Some Iran political analysts say Mr. Ahmadinejad’s eagerness to talk with a Western news organization shows that Iranian leaders are pursuing several policies simultaneously to see which one works in their standoff with the United States: escalating tensions, decreasing nuclear commitments and exploring diplomatic routes.

“Engagement with Trump directly is an idea that has gained currency in Iran,” said Ali Vaez, director of the Iran project at the International Crisis Group. “Not because they think they can get a better and broader agreement than the J.C.P.O.A., but they think it can provide them with some relief.”

David E. Sanger and Rick Gladstone contributed reporting.

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xyliane · 6 years

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I just realized where we are rn in HxH is about Aug 2001. So now I am wondering if Togashi will have a special event corralating to 9/11 and I'm worried.

let me preface this response by saying I’ve been in research paper spiral for the last four months due to my impending advancement in june, and your question provoked a knee-jerk reaction that led to a 4h-long research spiral by someone whose specialty is absolutely not japanese foreign policy and nationalism.

the tl;dr version here, and then the explanation for it under the cut: I don’t think that’s going to happen. for one, they’re currently on a boat headed to Big Murderous Landmass (unless kurapika and co sink the whale). they’re not in yorknew/nyc. also, japan’s perceptions of 9/11 and the media representations of it are not as pervasive as american or even broader western collective trauma. while togashi is unafraid to address contemporary social politics, I don’t think he’s going to correlate a particular event to 9/11. he’s more concerned with the failings and strengths of humanity, as a whole or in parts, and might reference particular events to get across a greater point, not draw direct parallels.

now, a cut, and then several hundred words on 9/11 as a moment of collective trauma, japanese militarism, and media perceptions. it is 4000% nerdier than this ask expected.

I don’t think togashi is going to include a 9/11 parallel in a large part because of how japanese media, and anime in particular, addresses japanese communal trauma, and how togashi uses moments and evocations of these in his stories (at least, yyh, and hxh, although level e has its own quirks). namely that japan really doesn’t deal with 9/11 like americans do–but they absolutely have other traumas that make their way into anime, manga, and other media.

the thing is that, while 9/11 is absolutely a moment of international trauma (I work in india, and people there are highly conscious of it), the moment that hit the US was very different in other parts of the world. I’m old enough to remember the whole “where were you on 9/11,” itself a sort of marker of solidarity and belonging within the trauma that kind of unites people around a time. the plane crashes were broadcast everywhere in the US, and no one didn’t see it. but we got it live, fed right to the tvs in our classrooms at 8am. and america didn’t get attacked by foreigners before, not like this–problems existed “out there,” not in nyc, for however many times it’s been destroyed on film. (we have our own homegrown terrorists, but that’s a whole other can of worms.) and when it did happen, the country as a whole kicked into a jingoist gear on top of the collective trauma of someone murdering a bunch of americans. freedom fries. they were a thing.

it’s probably important to note here that media doesn’t exist in a vacuum. we’re perpetually influenced by things that happen, whether they’re collective and historical memories, personal experience, or social trends. we get our references and jokes from somewhere, and they sink into our brains and affect what we put out into the world. trauma does this more effectively than most things. trauma elicits a search for meaning, whether it’s a question of “why did it happen” or “why did it happen to me/us?” sometimes we find a meaning in the disaster, and sometimes we don’t. but it marks us and connects us (Halbswach 1992, Updegraff et al 2009). and it affects us for a long, long time.

in japan (and again, I’m not an expert on this), 9/11 is a moment of international trauma that marks japan’s re-entering into the international military sphere, but also economic flux. of the approximately 3000 people killed in the twin towers attack, 316 were non-american, including 26 japanese nationals. japan joined the war coalition almost immediately, and spent billions of USD to support the “war on terror,” while also dealing with things like shohei koda’s beheading in 2004 or the kidnapping and release of 5 journalists and anti-war NGO workers the same year, which arrived back in japan only to be ostracized for “causing trouble” for japan, with accusations that they had “got what [they] deserved” (x, x). the effect on the news media in japan was of increasing conspiracy theories and warmongering, while simultaneously wary of tensions with china, north korea, and taiwan. basically, japan politically and militarily had a lot of pots on the fire, and was feeding yen to the american pot real fast. the japanese SDF pulled out of central asia in 2007, and it’s still a divisive subject from the papers I read, but it’s more about the military than 9/11. 9/11 is not, for example, the topic of a j-drama directly or indirectly. shohei imamura’s short film “japan” in the september 11 (2002) anthology is a parable set during world war ii, although he’s much more famous for his palme d’or wins and a film about hiroshima (black rain, 1989). and uh. apparently pokemon black and white has a reference to ground zero in their map of not!nyc?

japanese media’s collective trauma in anime is often the deep personal connection with the atomic bomb, or terror attacks and natural disasters on japanese soil. which makes sense: humans will generally latch onto things that affect us personally, whether it’s a cute puppy video shown to us or an act of terrorism we watch on television. for the US, we were–and still are–being forced to confront our place in the international community (hero, victim, villain, collaborator, all of it–and americans are not very good at shades of gray) through the “war on terror,” and it comes out in everything from comic book movies like bvs directly evoking 9/11 while cavill!supes ruins buildings to kill zod, to the rise of partisan tv news. but we don’t evoke nuclear war or radioactive waste with the same reaction that japan does–there’s a lot of fear of the bomb in the 1950s and 1960s, like with dr. strangelove and them!, but it’s centered less around the impact of the bomb and its literal or metaphorical nuclear fallout, and more on the fear of the other or an outsider destroying good ol’ american culture. or giving us superpowers. (personally, the closest I think american art and literature ever got to japanese sentiments is with a canticle for leibowitz, which focuses on the cyclical nature of human failure and how the past becomes changed through the present.)

(please read a canticle for leibowitz, it changed my life and only grows more potent with age.)

for japan, the dropping of atomic bombs on nagasaki and hiroshima provides a similar and long-lasting moment of national trauma that’s been preserved in public policy and popular culture. and it’s not just grave of the fireflies or barefoot gen, anime that address the bombings through direct reference. the bomb transforms into concerns about nuclear destruction and environmental fallout, with kaiju like godzilla rising from nuclear waste. osamu tezuka’s work like astro boy is in direct response to the abuse and use of technology and hope for humanity’s future, and naussica of the valley of the wind is a fantasy post-nuclear bomb situation blended with hayao miyazaki’s love of humanity and nature (x, x). I think it’s worth noting that both tezuka and miyazaki personally experienced the 1945 bombings. miyazaki was 4, and one of his earliest memories is fleeing utsunomiya’s bombings. tezuka, at 16 and working in arsenal factories during the fire bombing of osaka, later wrote kami no toride (1977) about his personal experience, which served as both autobiography and condemnation of the vietnam war.

of more recent stuff evoking trauma, naoki urasawa actually uses 9/11 as a moment in billy bat, as part of getting to questions of humanity and modernity and technology and progress. other anime dealing with terrorism, like GITS:SAC, the “brain scratch” episode of cowboy bebop, and of course urasawa’s 20th century boys, locate terrorism not through 9/11 (and the underlying racism and not-us-ness) but more often with these japanese cults like the ‘aum death cult that carried out the 1995 tokyo subway sarin attacks, and the changing landscape of terrorism in japan. we could point to shinichiro watanabe’s zankyou no terror (or terror in resonance? iunno) as a potential 9/11 parallel, and I think it’s got the 9/11 connections, but watanabe himself places it closer to the 1995 terrorist attacks. he even commented how much “darker” zankyou no terror is than the film he was influenced by (the man who stole the sun (1979)), directly citing the 1995 attacks as one reason the last 30 years have impacted japanese understandings of terrorism. more recently, there’s also been connections to the 3/11 disaster with kimi no na wa, where shinkai explores his perennial theme of personal connection across space and time via a form of natural disaster. outside of anime, there’s also a growing body of literature on 3/11 and music, which is super interesting and well worth a look if you’re interested.

fwiw, I think it’s interesting that both urasawa and watanabe are explicitly interested in western and specifically american culture, but through a japanese lens. and not the sort of “japanese lens” that leads to the americas of g gundam or yugioh, which are The Most American Ever, but a more nuanced representation that explores technology, human connection, and modernity. which is the sort of lens creators should try to do when engaging other cultures, at bare minimum. (/soapbox)

trauma isn’t often addressed directly, but allegorically or displaced: lindsay ellis has a great pair of loose canon episodes on 9/11 and how film evokes collective trauma. while she doesn’t talk about anime or japanese films, she uses bollywood as a way to talk about indirect expressions of nationalist trauma. in the second video, she suggests that, for countries like india working through their own terror attacks with mumbai in 2008 (the 26/11 attacks), it’s easier to use other countries’ or places’ or–I would suggest–fantastical trauma rather than directly address it. so bollywood used 9/11 to understand its own trauma. not everyone does this–and a lot of times, I doubt it’s done purposefully, at least initially. but it’s there implicitly, informing decisions of artists and content creators that sometimes doesn’t get revealed until placed under a critical eye. it’s why editing and getting outside or sensitivity readers is important! for japan, the parallels aren’t to other countries, but fantastical situations in japan with Very Heavy Symbolism ranging from akira’s totally-not-a-bombs to kimi no na wa’s processing of the 3/11 disaster via comet.

as for togashi, he uses world events and figures as ways of exploring his own interests (yu yu hakusho has multiple “wow capitalism suuuuuuuuucks” subplots with yukina’s arc and the dark tournament, plus the very anti-war/anti-hate/anti-capitalism/”humanity sucks but people [kuwabara] can be amazing” sentiments of the chapter black tape; while hxh’s chimera ant arc has both a-bomb parallels and north korea/china references on top of killua’s soapbox about how corrupt and terrible governments can be). the parallel between “humanity sucks” and “people can be so very good” threads throughout togashi’s work. but it also uses a very buddhist understanding of rebirth and reincarnation to get these points across, whether it’s the unconditional vore love of pouf and youpi giving themselves to rejuvenate mereum after he’s nuked or the reincarnations of former humans as ants. but all of it connects to togashi’s personal experiences of things happening to and by japan, whether it’s the invasion of and tension with taiwan, the boom and bust of the economy, or the militaristic push by parts of the government under koizumi and abe. that, layered on top of the trauma that informs a lot of japanese media, makes for a fascinating playground togashi is more than willing to dig into.

I suppose this is all a very, very long-winded way of saying that while it’s possible togashi could include a 9/11 parallel, I don’t think it’ll be tied to some september 2001 date in the hxh universe. if he uses it, it will be 1: through a togashi/japanese lens; 2: unattached to a particular date; 3: layered in dialogue with broader war and terror issues togashi’s interested in exploring.

if you’ve made it to the bottom: holy crap congrats, hello, talk to me about anthropology of media. and if you’re somehow still interested in more, here’s an brief list of sources I used on top of the ones explicitly referenced in the post:

Baffelli, Erica. “Media and religion in Japan: the Aum affair as a turning point.” Working paper, EASA. 2008. (media-anthropology.net)

Broderick, Mick (ed.). Hibakusha Cinema: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Nuclear Image in Japanese Film. Routledge and Kegan Paul International, 2014. (google books)

Deamer, David. Deleuze, Japanese Cinema, and the Atom Bomb: The Spectre of Impossibility. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014. (google books link)

Japan pulls troops from Afghanistan (npr, 2007)

Japan ends ban on military self-defense (time, 2014)

Japan’s 10 years since 9/11 (al-jazeera, 2011)

Krystian Woznicki (September 1991). “Towards a cartography of Japanese anime – Anno Hideaki’s Evangelion Interview with Azuma Hiroki”. BLIMP Filmmagazine. Tokuma Shoten. (archived here)

manga responses to 3/11 (nippon.com, 2012)

Saft, Scott, & Yumiko Ohara. “The media and the pursuit of militarism in Japan: Newspaper editorials in the aftermath of 9/11.” Critical Discourse Studies, 3(01), 2006. 81-101

#hxh meta #japanese history #nuclear memory #symbolism #I'm so sorry #japanese media #9/11 #26/11 #3/11 #all of the references #THIS is what I do for fun #...#sigh #long post #talk tag #Anonymous

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idjunho · 6 years

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+ detail your greatest source of strength

it’s been years since junho was in nevada, but he still remembers the man like he’d just seen him the day before.

a middle aged white man, probably in his late fifties when junho had studied in henderson. it was his music teacher, the man whom used music as his vessel for establishing such a strong relationship between himself and the seventeen year old korean exchange student, kwon junho; a very different junho from the one in xlnc today — he was far tanner back then, thanks to the consistently sweltering desert sun native vegans had long accepted beforehand. he was much shyer, and his lack of being able to communicate well his first few weeks of the semester left him feeling isolated, depressed, anxious that he would spend his entire year alone.

not until there’s mr. sanders, who gives junho hope, gives him a chance.

he doesn’t realize the talent junho wields until he stays for music club after school. his voice as a high schooler was nowhere near as refined as it is now, less confident and stable. but there’s a lot of power that high school junho doesn’t realize he harnesses until mr. sanders coaches him through his vocal struggles. the two bond easily over music, the older man offering his pupil as many of his cds from his collection as junho desired to borrow. a man shaped greatly by his childhood build upon the united states’ involvement in vietnam, junho quickly finds his musical world expanding far greater than he’d ever imagined. for a long time he doesn’t quite comprehend all of the lyrics on their first listens; he concentrates more on the melodies and the actual sounds of the artists’ voices melded with their instruments than focusing too much on the meanings of what they were trying to express. mr. sanders tells him plenty, through words slow and simple, enough for junho to grasp in his earlier months. he can’t understanding his stories fully at first, slowly connecting the dots of the keywords that he uses to help fit the puzzle together: vietnam — army — protest — arrest. at the end of the year junho understands the man’s history, a college music student who’d been part of a large majority of his country who refused to condemn to acts of unjustified violence.

the memorabilia of the time that adorns his classroom, anti-war propaganda painted with large bubbly fonts and skeletons of uncle sam demanding to BRING THE TROOPS HOME with littered peace sign decorations paint an even bigger picture.

“i suggest you visit some concerts while you’re here,” mr. sanders says, “las vegas certainly is the place for them.”

and so he does. he blinds himself with the lights that illuminate the strip, a city that truly never does sleep. vegas is in a world of its own compared to busan, how one could even begin to understand the wonders of the world never leaving home baffles him seeing the city of sin in all its neon, unadultered and unforgiving life completely beyond his comprehension. it blows his mind to have so much entertainment at his fingertips; a new concert every weekend, a new bar to visit with his stunning fake id, a few three am wedding receptions to inconspicuously crash with his friends when the bride and groom were too far gone to notice.

the killers, his first concert in vegas, introduces him to the world of the heartland rock genre, which later influences his love for springsteen and tom petty, and expanding further into the rock genre.

mr. sanders teaches him more than just music, he teaches him the love and passion for it; the drive to become not just someone who can play music but can also create it, craft it, make it his own — it resonates with junho even when he returns from the united states a year later, clearly changed. his taste of westernization to his personality doesn’t sit well with his parents at first, unamused by their sons’ incomprehensible choice of music he chooses to listen to over studying. they blame it all on his dropping grades, his lack of communication, his desire to be... well, anything in life. besides a rockstar, of course.

even well past his debut, junho’s parents still don’t approve. they don’t call. he can only remember a few times counting on a single hand the number of times he’d talked to either of his parents while he was a trainee — though he couldn’t actually recall what those conversations had been about. the lack of communication between himself and his family, junho realized as he began to grow older, grew out of his rookie days into a somewhat matured musician, was a far greater good than evil.

so when most people ask him this question and expect him to say something about his parents, his unique backstory speaks for itself. “i haven’t seen or spoken to my music teacher since i left the states, no,” he admits during an interview after speaking of his teacher’s personal legacy to him, a genuinely sad response ushering in an even sadder smile. he wonders if mr. sanders is in good health, if he’s still teaching music at his high school. the thought of ever having the opportunity to reunite with the man who had kindled his passion to be where he is now, speaking to an interviewer alongside his bandmates and explaining where his roots began, would be nothing short of incredible.

“u-uhm, mr. sanders, it’s me, kwon junho,” his english is unscripted as the interviewer encourages him to make a short message to his old high school teacher in the possible hopes some american fans watching might try to pass it on — that was the beauty of having such a strong international fanbase, despite the group’s lack of domestic popularity. though despite having only spent a year in nevada, his immersion paid off even to this day with how surprisingly sharp junho had worked to keep up with his english skills. in his own ears, as he always felt with his music and everything else he did in his life, junho was sure his english must have had to deterioate over the years, his pronunciation, his vocabulary, the works — but the fan response he always garnered in the rare moments he used it on camera always told him otherwise. “thank you for your motivation helping me in high school. back then, i was really scared,” he holds the mic up closer to his mouth and pauses, straining to think of what else to say. “you really helped me to... not feel afraid.” he laughs, knowing it sounds cheesy. “if we can meet again, someday in the future, it would make me the happiest.” he nods his head as the rest of the group smiles and pats his back with appraisal upon his english. he smiles sheepishly, passing the mic to the next member as the interviewer moves onto the next member.

he curls his middle and ring fingers to meet his thumb, pointer and pinky sticking out to form devil horns. an ode to a rock legend who never gave up on him.

rock on, mr. sanders.

#* p : solo.#+5exp #guess who his hs teacher is named after lmaooo #wc:1193

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hogsteeth-archive · 6 years

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alright then i answered one of them oc questions things for both versions of ira bc like. why wouldnt i. first answer is 1976 58y/o rhodesian ira, second answer is 201x 16y/o houstonian ira. i just wanted to figure out how different they really are. questions from here. if readmores still dont work on mobile im sorry lmao

what are some things they have strong opinions about?

he has sort of a cioranian attitude to the value of life, like, hes one of them “theres always reason to kill a man, theres no way to justify his living” types. he doesnt believe in nationalism per se but he does believe in war, hes literally a mercenary, and hed probably get along just fine with someone like mike hoare, but hes not one for unnecessary cruelty. hes kind to who he considers innocent. if he was alive today i can see him getting grouped w/ like, anti-natalists, right-wing “primitivists,” people who browse /fo/, people who think theyll thrive in the post-apocalypse even though they cant even spin yarn, people who dont understand fallout, you know, those types, but i like to think his attitude wrt civ is closer to perlmans or, well, mine. its a good thing he doesnt live in internet times. he thinks technology makes people complacent and weak and hes fallen into the trap of the “noble savage” myth; sign of the times. he could just as easily live off the grid in like, alberta, but he chose to stay in southern africa bc of his colonial attitudes & fetishization of the “less developed.” (sidenote, if youre like, new here n reading this for some reason, yea i write like really really bad characters were talking irredeemably evil here, just like, know that im aware of that.) also he detests hippies for both bad and good reasons ⸻ not much, really, hes an opportunist, a hedonist, hes selfish, goes w/ the flow. he thinks denying yourself pleasure for no reason is microfascism — not in those words — and while he doesnt think that selfishness leads to a bettering of overall society, hes no randian, he feels justified in what he does. hes uh, a mercenary in spirit and ive always intended to have him join the marines n later work for a pmc but were nowhere near there yet

what traits do they like in other people? what traits do they not like?

he likes people (men, that is) that are exactly like him. he likes Narrator bc hes just as quiet, as patient, as stubborn, as antisocial (using that the right way here, i like, know about psychology), as violent, as old-timey-ly masculine as he is. he can tolerate clade (his former accountant) bc she keeps to herself and shes loyal to a fault, but he doesnt go out of his way to like, actually talk to her. he likes will bc he reminds him of what he was like as a child living with his matabele mother. ⸻ he hates everything he perceives as weakness, but hes not all that open about that, i think hes not even 100% aware thats what it is. he needs to be talked back to. he lacks compassion, doesnt know how to deal w/ anyone whos less resilient and abrasive than himself.

do they have a significant other? if so, who?

i mean, theres Narrator — thats kinda what this whole thing is about. but theyll never think of each other that way. its complicated. theyre uh… closer to being marlow and kurtz than to being boyfriends. idk how to explain it. its bad. ⸻ hes fake-dating millah for appearances and secretly seeing jack, im not sure about the details either so im not getting into that, but hes eventually gonna meet will; ive written their first encounter like ten different ways and i still dont really know what i wanna do w/ them........ also Complicated

whats their friend group like? what role do they play (leader, mom friend, etc.)?

he lives in a hut he built w/ his bare hands on the edge of the kalahari. his friends are one horse and one vaalboskat. ⸻ he uses his friends but they use him too. hes reasonably popular bc hes athletic n wealthy, but i think the only one of his friends who really truly sees thru his act is millah, and bc he doesnt take her seriously as a threat, she has more control over him than he realizes.

do they care about their physical appearance? whats their routine like?

nah ⸻ not really. he showers too often and his hairs kinda dry but other than that hes like. Normal. idk i dont care about these things

do they have any physical or mental disabilities?

i dont think so ⸻ he has adhd

what would they die for? kill for?

oh hes not picky. he joined the military at 17, hes made peace w/ the prospect of dying. hes been more uncomfortable w/ the thought of growing old, actually. and again, hes literally a mercenary. not a big deal to him. ⸻ i dont think hes selfless enough to die for anyone. hed kill to protect the people he cares about, but thats more just bc hes possessive. im sure thats gonna come up eventually. i cant really write shit w/o weaving murder in somewhere.

do they have any magical powers or abilities? if its a realistic world, what religion do they follow?

absolutely the fuck not i hate magic. hes not religious, actually feels a little intimidated by religion. in one version of his story he spends his 50s on east nusa tenggara where he doesnt live far from a church, and he makes peace w/ the concept of god thanks to the influence of catholic-raised Narrator, but i doubt hell ever actually step foot into a church, or temple, or mosque, or what-have-you. hes internalized some things during his upbringing though that he doesnt classify as religious. little superstitions. he likes to keep objects that may be used for divination around his house, but he never touches them. ⸻ not religious, but if he had to pick, like to pretend, hed say baptist.

do they celebrate any holidays? how do they celebrate?

nah ⸻ like, the regular american ones. hell welcome any excuse to drink and to socialize, and id say his favorite holiday is the 4th of july, really just bc he likes warm weather and theres not a lot else you can celebrate in the middle of summer. hes not attached to the significance of any holidays. hes not crazy about christmas but he likes his family well enough and hell go along w/ it all, just to have sth to do. hes not good w/ time off.

if they were the protagonist in any book series, what series would they choose? alternatively: what would be their favorite book?

he doesnt really read but hed feel right at home inside heart of darkness or maybe the thin red line. or maybe sth by mccarthy ⸻ hes 16 he hasnt read jack shit. i wanna say deleuze would probably resonate w/ him bc hes a total self-insert but i really dont know. i try to keep the intertextuality way low bc i hate that shit in most fiction, so like, i try not to think too much about other books here

do they have any vices?

uh he drinks and he occasionally smokes opium but compared to most of my characters hes pretty okay wrt that ⸻ yea like… all of them. already said hes a hedonist make of that what u will

do they play any instruments?

nope ⸻ violin but he hasnt been practicing a lot lately

what would their favorite ride at an amusement park be?

hes never been to one ⸻ i feel like hed be into sth really lame… like you know that video by jenny nicholson, top ten lame things to do at disney world? sth like that. like hed go just to get a specific food item or to admire the infrastructure

what animal would they say best represents them?

hyena 100%. the spotted kind. id say tortoise also but hed find that insulting ⸻ id say hyena but hed be reluctant to answer that bc hes a Youth and he knows what a furry is

how do they act when theyre drunk?

vulnerable. little more talkative. he talks to himself (or the cat, rather) sometimes ⸻ more abrasive/tactless/impulsive. he talks w/ his whole body and feels like moving/running bc, again, self-insert

which era of history would they most like to live in?

the old west, like early to mid-19th century, maybe late 18th. that or like the really olden days, like mid-paleolithic ⸻ idk maybe like ten or twenty years earlier. i think he fits the 21st century pretty well. hes a curious person though and if he had a time machine hed go Everywhere at least once

whats their favorite food?

ah thats. complicated actually i have a whole list of foods that remind me of Narrator but ive never gotten around to making one for ira. hm. he likes poultry, like ostrich. white fish. dry/salty foods. sour fruit. breadfruit. fatty dark meats, blood sausage. hes not picky though, hell live on pap and water if he has to. ⸻ i genuinely dont know. im not used to the contemporary western setting yet like… pop tarts exist in the same world as he does and im not comfortable w/ that yet. like, branded food articles wrapped in plastic. thats so weird to me. i guess he likes (american) pizza w/ greens on it, like spinach? and seafood. sour candies, maybe, i dont think he has much of a sweet tooth. he puts salt n butter on potatoes and cottage cheese on pancakes.

what songs remind you of them?

conveniently theres a whole playlist rite here

whats their favorite season and why?

dry season. he doesnt like cloudy/foggy weather bc it makes him feel trapped when he cant see as far. ⸻ summer. i honest to god think people liking cold weather is a conspiracy like im not sure thats even biologically possible. like summer is the obvious answer here

which d&d class would they play as?

nah we dont do nerd shit round these parts

whats their favorite expletive?

he like, barely talks ⸻ nothin weird thats for sure, we campaign for simple straight-forward language in this house. having a Favorite is inherently at odds w/ that. bad question

whats their favorite candle scent?

no scented candles in the desert ⸻ sth fruity but not sweet, like mixed berries, sth red or purple

how do they feel about death?

he doesnt ⸻ hed feel cheated by life if he died young. he has a lot to see and do and itd like, bum him out not to get to do that but hes not afraid of death

do they collect anything? whats their most prized possession?

he lives pretty austerely but he does keep little rocks and gems and bones and pieces of wood n such. also coins from all the countries hes been to bc hes a simple old man. i wanna say his most prized possession is his hogs tooth bc he does value the marines a lot still. its where he first met Narrator :-) ⸻ he really appreciates gifts people give him, things that remind him of people. jack carved him an eagle once

do they play any sports?

no ⸻ nothing too organized. i dont think hes on any school teams bc idk if he has the time but that might change. he does run/hunt/fish/shoot

what one place do they really want to visit and why?

he likes deserts, wide open spaces. hes been to the kalahari n namib but not the gobi/sahara/simpson etc, so, those. no ice deserts though those scare him ⸻ polynesia/southeast asia, just tropical places in general. bc theyre nice what do you want me to tell you. tropics good

what languages do they speak?

northern ndebele, afrikaans, english (w/ various influences), some vietnamese ⸻ english, some cajun french, some spanish

what are some items they always carry? what weapon do they favor using if they exist in a world where weapons are necessary?

hes got his fal obviously and he does always carry a knife, just to be safe. more out of habit than actual necessity (not to imply rural areas were safe in the late 70s, but he lives in the literal wilderness, hes not much of a target. stays away from roads and all that.) ⸻ man hes really not as classy as i want him to be :/ he probably has like, a glock 17 w/ ten thousand pointless modifications n some uglyass stipling pattern. hes a little bit paranoid + irresponsible n carries all kinds of shit he doesnt need, mostly way too much cash

which emoji would they use the most?

no ⸻ he doesnt have a phone, hell maybe use a burner if he has to. this is an anti-phone household

what fantasy race would they be? if they already are one, pick a different one.

absolutely not

do they want to start a family? if they already have one, describe it.

no ⸻ no

what stereotypical high school clique would they fit into?

hed swing between the jrotc kids n the stoners honestly, but still mostly keep to himself ⸻ hes like, too much of a jock for the Delinquents, too much of a Delinquent for the jocks. hes really only popular bc hes rich-ish n blessed w/ good looks, and by association w/ millah

whats one thing that they dont need do they waste the most money on?

he doesnt ⸻ everything. hes really wasteful. he buys more food than he can eat, clothes he never wears, etc etc, hes terrible

what kind of shoes do they wear?

combat boots or just traditional sandals. the terrain around his house is mostly grass and flat boulders so he goes barefoot a lot ⸻ regular tennis shoes, nothin too fashionable bc he cant be bothered to keep up w/ trends, but usually clean n new. hiking boots when hes not w/ his regular friend group

do they believe in ghosts, aliens, and the occult in general?

really dont like how aliens are always grouped in w/ esoteric shit bc like, thats like asking if you believe in atoms honestly. no shit “aliens” exist thats like not up for debate. both iræ would agree w/ me here. 70s ira doesnt believe in like, Ghosts per se, but he has some vague concept of spirits that he got from his mother. he sees/feels them when hes half asleep. ⸻ 2010s ira doesnt believe in jack shit

which deadly sin do they most correspond to? which heavenly virtue?

nooo cardinal sins dont work that way theyre not hogwarts houses. its so much more complicated than that thats impossible

if you had to choose one tarot card to represent them, what would it be?

hmmm four of swords? knight of coins? eight of cups? this is hard ⸻ seven of swords? nine of cups? the devil? i dont know

what do they consider to be their best quality? what actually is their best quality?

his strength, which is really just his callousness and lack of convictions. and uh. i guess his independence ⸻ same here for the first part. and. maybe his loyalty? i dont consider loyalty a good thing personally idk

what do they consider to be their worst quality? what actually is their worst quality?

his lack of social skills maybe? he doesnt need them too often of course but like, the first time Narrator showed up at his doorstep he was genuinely nervous and that did fill him w/ some semblance of shame and in his eyes he should be good at everything, so like. that. really its his lack of conviction and his timidness/avoidance of the world ⸻ his dependence on others/lack of discipline. really its his lack of compassion, like, obviously

#ira #ricky pwease come online

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