#as a) hate at all but b) misogynistic simply because… they assume the person like caleb and percy uncritically like | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

melrosing · 3 years

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actually, it's a pretty common theory. a lot of shippers basically don't want jaime to die and brienne to live because they said and i quote, "if jaime dies, brienne will be alone." they're overestimating jaime's importance and undermining how much of a catch brienne is. sorry if i sounded rude btw, i just thought you'd hate that theory too. and it is more common than you think. just look at the way all those ppl started theorizing that show!brienne would be pregnant with rejection baby

there's nothing wrong with implying that a single mom would take care of her kid after her baby daddy dies. but there is something fucked up in the idea that she apparently can't find someone better and has to be alone and unloved for the rest of her life. Jb shippers always say that love is an important part of brienne's story, but they actually only want her to be loved by jaime and have no issue throwing her under the bus to validate their ship.

siiigh okay let's do this. "a lot of shippers basically don't want jaime to die and brienne to live because they said and i quote, "if jaime dies, brienne will be alone." JB fans are shippers. they like Jaime and Brienne together, and do not want one half of their ship to die. so far so good: this does not strike me as offensive. I also think JB shippers are likely right in thinking that if Jaime were to die, Brienne will be both A) unhappy! and B) lonely! she's a character who has longed for love and has feared she'll never have it. Jaime is introduced as the character who will contradict that notion and love her as she loves him. there's this sort of... extended bit in ASOS where grrm kind of explores why they're that special fit for each other, it's pretty good. lots of soulmate imagery going on, etc etc. so you know, Jaime's death is kind of a... sad ending for Brienne. life certainly goes on, and hey, the story may well end like that, but it doesn't seem all that radical to me that some JB/Brienne fans might dislike that as the conclusion to her story and theorise that maybe, Jaime might live. "they're overestimating jaime's importance and undermining how much of a catch brienne is." they're overestimating Jaime's importance.... to whom exactly? to Brienne? the woman who thinks about him like... every couple of pages in AFFC? should we assume that actually, Jaime's death is no biggie for her, even though she has nightmares about him dying, even though she literally tried to die for him in her last chapter, even despite this constant refrain that goes 'I'm meant to protect him'? and I'm sorry, where do JB fans undermine 'how much of a catch Brienne is'? the whole point of JB is that Brienne is a catch lmao, and that Jaime, so far, is the only character who's actually opened his eyes and seen that. does that mean JB/Brienne fans believe Brienne can never be loved again post-Jaime? no. it probably just means that, as people invested in the characters and relationship of Jaime and Brienne, they are not super interested in waving off Jaime's death as 'shit happens' and moving onto exploring the relationship of Brienne and some character who does not exist in the story.

GRRM has done a lot of work explaining why Jaime and Brienne fit together. nobody is super interested in talking about how a similar relationship might play out with a stranger offscreen. "just look at the way all those ppl started theorizing that show!brienne would be pregnant with rejection baby" I saw those theories. nobody wanted it to happen. there were just some fans who, seeing how badly the show had already treated Brienne, thought there was every chance D&D might do still worse by her in the final episode. "but there is something fucked up in the idea that she apparently can't find someone better and has to be alone and unloved for the rest of her life." like I mentioned, I imagine what you're talking about has less to do with 'nobody else could ever love Brienne and she must be alone' and more to do with... no-one really being especially interested in exploring a relationship that takes place offscreen with a character who doesn't currently exist. but besides that, you will always find shippers who feel character A could never truly love again after the death of character B, particularly where the 'soulmate stuff' is played as hard as it is with JB. this strikes me less as offensive and misogynistic and more just the way people feel about their ships. I had a Renly/Loras fan basically tell me the same a couple months back when I suggested that perhaps Loras might find someone else post-canon, because they couldn't fathom Loras loving again after Renly. this didn't strike me as uncharitable to Loras, but just the strength of their feeling for the ship, and the strength of the love they read into it. and GRRM even sort of supports the idea with Loras' line "When the sun has set, no candle can ever replace it." perhaps this is the grief talking, or perhaps this is true for Loras. personally, I like to think everyone can love again after the death of a partner, but I don't think it's an offensive reading for someone invested in the ship to believe that Jaime was Brienne's great love and "no candle can ever replace it." it has nothing to do with thinking she has to be alone and celibate forever without him. it is simply their reading of Jaime and Brienne's relationship and how Brienne's grief might manifest, you're free to disagree with it if you like.

"Jb shippers always say that love is an important part of brienne's story, but they actually only want her to be loved by jaime"

JB shippers are only invested in Jaime and Brienne because theirs is the romance the story is exploring. they are two characters whose stories are about love, explored via the other. like, I'm sorry, are we supposed to just get on with shipping Brienne x Ser Not-Appearing-In-This-Story? what is your actual issue here?

#ask #jaime x brienne

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klaineownsmysoul · 3 years

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I just can't believe that there are people who still believe every single word a public figure/celebrity says, most of the time they LIE. Did C lie about some fans harassing his bf? I have no clue, but if someone was indeed harassing him, that is just not correct. There are crazy fans in every fandom. If people still believe every post or tweet is posted personally by the celebrity, they are just naive and gullible. I don't believe in CC, but that's just my opinion. I do believe D is closeted and just because he posts something or says something nice about someone doesn't mean he actually thinks that, it is most likely PR, just like the unnecessary refurbishment of RR's house. People should wake up and not believe everything they see on the internet. Side note: I couldn't even get mad at yesterday's show because everything is just so ridiculous and bad-acted that it's funny.

At this point, if you aren't side-eyeing basically everything that comes out of Hollywood, you are just willfully ignorant. Its all calculated to a specific end and they don't think twice about contradicting their past selves if it serves a current narrative. Case in point: C saying towards the end of glee that he had no idea who D was when he joined the show when there's a whole interview of him talking about seeing D in AVPM way back when. Like season 2 back when. That's just a blatantly obvious, easily disproved and stupid lie. With regards to this podcast mess - I haven't listened to it and I wasn't on tumblr for most of glee's run so I wasn't really privy to a lot of the goings on that happened bts. Can I believe that there were people who crossed the line of fandom and behaved like assholes? Yes, definitely because it still happens. That kind of behavior is not exclusive to the glee fandom. You will find people like that everywhere. Whether or not they did exactly what he said they did - only he knows that for sure. Its a weird thing to bring up now 6 years after the show has ended as it effectively (and unfairly) paints a bullseye on a specific group. I'm not sure what he was hoping to achieve with this. The CC people that I've interacted with here are lovely and would never in a million years even think of things that horrible. Keep your thoughts and opinions to your own little blog and you don't tag the person in your post - its as simple as that. Who are these nobodies who have that much power that they think they can get a complete stranger fired? If they did indeed behave this way, then that is appalling, completely batshit crazy, and unacceptable - they need professional help. Its not funny, its scary. There's no need for that ever. At the end of the day, its his life and what he does with it and who he spends it with is his business. There's a pretty simple solution if you don't like the person anymore or don't like what they are doing: you can simply stop following them. You don't need to engage in some sort of bizarre smear campaign that has real world implications. Remember all those toxic twitter teens who were ready to draw and quarter D a few months back over that nearly 10 year old pic of him or a comment just as old? The awful things they said about him, the nonstop tagging of him and the flooding of every one of his SM posts with their bullshit? The "you're dead to me if you choose to remain a fan of his" ultimatums? I do! That's the kind of stuff that drives celebs away from SM and ruins it for the rest of us that know how to behave. You're creating an issue where there wasn't one and that's sort of what C did here with his comments.

From my point of view, the issue with C and D's SOs isn't so much that they are with other people, but more to the kind of people they seem to be. I don't know much frankly about W. He's not shoved in my face 24 hours a day and a hovering annoying presence at everything C does. You'll find more pics of C solo or with AF than you will with W. That's why he bothers me less and why D takes more criticism on this. But from what I've heard about him, he's said and posted some pretty awful things in the past and if people choose to not like him because of that, that seems valid to me. As fans, we can only judge celebs by what they say and do and our perception of them - its all we have. My dislike of M is not because she's with D and I'm a super jealous old spinster. And its not because I'm a self hating misogynist. Its because of the way she clings to D and his career while doing nothing on her own, the way she uses him for her own selfish purposes, and the hypocritical way she claimed to not to want to be in the public eye but yet shadows D at every event he goes to because it means cameras and photos and recognition as his wife. That tacky awful commercialized wedding was the last straw for me because I haven't been able to hold my tongue since. And if you follow someone long enough, you can get a pretty good idea of when they're being genuine and when they're bullshitting you or in D's case, when its him posting something and when its a member of his team. For example: where he supposedly proposed. By lying about it - either then or now - you've created a mess that didn't previously exist. Its a fairly simple straightforward statement that most people get right the first time: where they asked their SO to marry them. D says Japan, RR says D called him saying he wanted to do it when he was outside a bathroom in Miami. So the answer is either a) D b) RR c) none of the above. I'm going to go with c, thanks. Unless RR is going to come back and say that D decided to ask her in Miami but then waited until they were physically in Japan to do the asking, I'm going to go with neither of you are right and the reason D blew off the question every time he was asked about it by saying he didn't want to bore us is that you hadn't come up with a good enough and believable story yet. Much like the engagement ring that hadn't been locked down until RR could find a designer willing to make a ring with a diamond big enough to soothe her ego and give off the pretense of being legit. He probably put more effort into that than anything in D's career in the last 5 years. Do I think that RR did help D at one point when he was starting out with gigs, jobs, things like that? Sure. No problem. And maybe they were friends and liked to hang out and jam together. But do I also think that D has outgrown him personally and professionally at this point? Hell fucking yes. He needs a grown up to take his career to the next level and RR is not that person. He completely failed to capitalize on all the awards and well deserved hype D got from ACS and for that alone, he should have been fired. He needs someone who wants to do the work because they understand the rare find they have in D and that their job is to promote him, not themselves. The IOU ep was nothing but a self serving hour of D trying to make RR look and sound like he's not a complete waste of space on top of getting a cut of his fee as his manager. If you look at D's page on the very sad H/yphenate website, you will see the 3 biggest roles D's had are not listed. No Blaine. No Hedwig. No ACS. But oddly enough, a mention of his record deal with Columbia, which I thought went kaput ages ago and his hosting of the Teen Choice Awards in 2013. You know - the big times. Why? I'm going to assume its because he got those roles without RR's help so he doesn't want them there and what does that tell you? It should tell you everything. This is why your manager should be your manager and your friends should be your friends. Its like a parent who wants to be their

child's friend instead of the authority figure they need.

Too much of D's SM has the look and feel of pr and useless ads and just flat out nonsense and that falls squarely under RR's domain. He's a 34 year old man with an established career, not a 21 year old newbie just starting out but his SM doesn't reflect that in any way, shape, or form. The sooner D can cut his losses and break free, the better off his career will be, the more adult he will sound, and the happier I will be.

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iwa-ch4n · 3 years

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haikyuu sibling hcs

i am returning from the dead because of this, which has me going insane every time i think about it. there will probably be a part two of this. i simply cannot get it out of my mind

nishinoya’s sisters

all of them are older than him, but I’d say one is a year older than him (3rd year), one is four years older (3rd year of uni) and one is six years older (graduated a year ago)

the nishinoya’s are a Loud family. they are constantly yelling at each other, whether in an argument or just to talk to each other. they’re also all very messy, with the middle sister being the lesser of four evils by actually returning cups and dishes to the kitchen (she goes to all their rooms while she’s at it)

the eldest is the one who got nishinoya into volleyball. she played in high school, and she taught little 9-year-old yuu in the back garden as a reward for finishing his homework. she played non-competitively at uni and dropped it after, but she’ll still always practice with him whenever she’s home

the youngest sister dresses like an egirl and has the bleached streaks at the front of her hair. she had leftover bleach when doing it, so she convinced yuu to do a matching style, which is the origin story of the blonde streak in his hair

the youngest sister also plays football (soccer), and they help each other practice. they’re absolutely best friends.

all of them are Fiercely protective of each other. he likes to think he’s the one protecting them all the time but in reality he is the baby of the family and they would all rather die than let anyone so much as lay a finger on him

the middle sister is the only one with good grades, and they always say she has all the brain cells between the four of them. she also sleeps until 1pm (which doesn’t mix well with yuu’s tendency to wake up at 7am acting like he’s had three energy drinks) and went through a lot of boyfriends in high school (yuu tried to intimidate all of them, and failed, because he was 13 and short as hell). they get along better now she’s moved out.

the eldest is only a mature functional adult because she had to stop the rest from injuring themselves or each other constantly when they were kids. she’s the go-to for advice for all of them, but will always go to her brother when she needs to rant

the eldest got All of the height. she is a tall woman and she likes to use her siblings as armrests to make them feel even smaller. gives good hugs but also slaps her siblings around the head as a form of greeting

they taught yuu about style and respecting women. he chose not to listen when it came to style and wears ugly tshirts with funny slogans anyway, but he would beat up a misogynist.

asahi had a bit of a crush on the youngest sister for part of their second year and will NEVER admit it

overall they are chaotic, loud and messy but they get along really well, simultaneous hell yeah and big rip for the parents.

suga’s brother

ok listen he’s 7 (11 years younger) and babysitting him is part of the reason koushi became an elementary school teacher

he is o b s e s s e d with dinosaurs, tsukishima begrudgingly and secretly gives koushi his old, more childish dino-themed things to pass on to the kid

absolutely idolises his brother. wants to be Exactly like him. he rlly tries hard in school because of it (even though he has a pretty short attention span)

also wants to play volleyball bc of suga, and is his brother’s biggest hypeman

terrified of daichi but loves asahi. its asahi’s biggest win

makes suga watch disney movies with him (he doesn’t actually make him, its unclear which one of them enjoys it more)

kyoutani’s sister

she’s 23 (6 years older) and the COOLEST BITCH

has a sort of indie / grunge style, basically that fun y2k-ish style but with more chains and fishnets

plays electric guitar, has a bunch of stick and pokes, wears doc martens and is doing a masters degree in journalism.

please i’m in love with her

she had a massive emo / punk phase back when kentarou was 10 and thought she was the most amazing person alive. he started trying to be punk like her and it stuck

they would kill and die for each other but argue All The Time. especially when he was like 13-14. basically hated each other but now they very much respect each other

(she’s the only person he fully respects other than iwaizumi)

they would play fight all the time that almost verged on genuine physical fighting. they still do sometimes, and she wins 90% of the time.

for personal reasons i am going to say she’s bisexual

if you ever think kentarou would have anything negative to say about women or gays, you are wrong. if you say anything bigoted its an attack on his sister and he will beat you up about it

literally has to keep her away from the volleyball team because they met her once and oikawa tried to flirt with her and he is never suffering through that again

she helps him cut and bleach his hair and he helps her dye hers fun colours sometimes

overall the literal coolest person ever i would die for her

kuroo’s sister

okay I’d say she’s probably,,, 22. four years older.

the most put together person you will meet in your life. its honestly scary how organised she is. time management queen.

the science genes run in the family. just started a master’s degree in biology and plans to do a PhD

every teacher that taught her expects tetsurou to be just as smart and capable. it annoys him, even though he gets the grades, because they assume he’s gonna be just as well behaved and organised as her. that man has not handed in a homework assignment in his life.

she has Long Ass, Thick Ass Hair and if she ever lets it get slightly out of hand it looks like a Nightmare

still hates tetsurou for making her practice volleyball with him when she was 12. she missed the season finale of a show she liked and then got it spoiled for her because she was helping him and she still holds a grudge about it

may be put together, but she’s still fun. will buy tetsurou alcohol if he asks her to (not too much tho, so parents don’t catch on)

he tries to flirt with her friends and she hates him for it (the newer ones that meet him when he’s like 18 seem to enjoy it and she hates that even more)

is Very intimidated by tetsurou’s volleyball team, will still bully him in front of them tho. when her and kenma team up they are ruthless and if he didn’t know they were joking he’d probably cry

yaku pretended to have a crush on her for almost a whole year in second year to annoy tetsurou. he even got her in on it and ‘asked her out’. it was the longest and most worthwhile con he’s ever pulled.

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marnanel · 4 years

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a doctor discovers a queer nightclub in 1894

CW for historical ableism, homophobia, etc

I thought I'd add some more from the 1908 book about "sexual pathology", which involves a doctor being very confused about the existence of gay, bi, lesbian, and trans people.

This bit is about visiting a queer nightclub. When he says "misogynist", he means "gay" (because he assumes gay men dislike women).

The book is "The sexual question" by Auguste Forel; this is from chapter 8.

— Transcript —

Sexual inversion is so widespread that in certain countries, for instance Brazil, and even in some European towns, there are brothels with men instead of women.

I will mention here a very curious case of purely psychical but complete inversion of the sexual personality, combined with complete sexual anaesthesia:

A man, aged 22, the son of an inebriate, with one imbecile sister. Of delicate constitution, but very intelligent, he was possessed since infancy with the idea that he was a girl, although his genital organs were properly formed and were normally developed at puberty. He had a horror of the society of boys, and of all masculine work, while he was quite happy in performing all the household duties of a woman. An irresistible obsession urged him to dress himself as a woman, and neither contempt, ridicule, nor punishment could cure him of it. Attempts to give him employment as a boy in a small town failed completely. His girlish manners made him suspected by the police, who took him for a girl dressed in boy’s clothes, and threatened to arrest him. When he was compelled to put on male attire he consoled himself with wearing a woman’s chemise and corset underneath.

~ I carefully examined this individual and found him affected with complete sexual anesthesia. He had a horror of everything connected with the sexual appetite, but the idea of sexual intercourse with men was still more repugnant than that of normal coitus with women. Although the testicles and penis appeared absolutely normal, he never had erections. His voice was high pitched and his whole manner suggested that of a eunuch.

This case is very instructive, for it clearly shows how the psycho-sexual personality may be predetermined by heredity in the brain alone, independently of the sexual organs, and even act without a trace of sexual sensation or appetite. This was undoubtedly a case of alcoholic blastophthoria and not ordinary heredity.

Krafft-Ebing describes the following scene, taken from a Berlin journal, dated February, 1894, which gives a good idea of the manners and customs of the homosexual fraternity:

“The misogynist’s ball. Almost all the social elements of Berlin have their club or meeting place—the fat, the bald, the bachelors, the widowers—why not the misogynists? This variety of the human species, whose society is hardly edifying, but whose psychology is peculiar, held a fancy dress ball a few days ago. The sale, or rather the distribution of tickets was kept very private. Their meeting place is a well-known dancing hall. We enter the hall about midnight. Dancing is going on to the music of a good orchestra. A thick cloud of smoke obscures the lamps and prevents us at first from distinguishing the details of the scene. It is only during an interval that we can make a closer examination. Most of the people are masked, dress coats and ball dresses are exceptional.

“But what do I see? This lady in rose tarlatan, who has just pirouetted before us has a cigar in her mouth and smokes like a trooper. She has also a small beard, half hidden by paint. And she is now talking to an “angel” in tights, very décolleté, with bare arms crossed behind her, also smoking. They have men’s voices and the conversation is also masculine, for it turns on ‘this cursed tobacco will not draw.’ Two men dressed as women!

“‘A clown in conventional costume leaning against a pillar is speaking tender words to a ballet dancer, with his arm round her waist. She has a Titian head, a fine profile and good figure. Her brilliant earrings, her necklace, her shapely shoulders and arms seem to proclaim her sex, when suddenly disengaging herself from the embracing arm she turns away with a yawn, saying in a bass voice, ‘Emile, why are you so tiresome to-day?’ The novice hardly believes his eyes: the ballet dancer is also a man. :

“Becoming suspicious, we continue our investigations, beginning to think that the world is here upside down. Here is a man who comes tripping along; but no, it cannot be a man, in spite of the small and carefully curled mustache. The dressing of the hair, the powder and paint on the face, the blackened eyebrows, the gold earrings, the bouquet of flowers on the breast and shoulder, the elegant black gown, the gold bracelets, the fan held in a white-gloved hand—none of these things suggest a man. And with what coquetry he fans himself; how he dances and skips about! Nevertheless, Nature has created this doll in the form of a man. He is a salesman in one of the large sweet shops, and the ballet dancer is his colleague!

“At the table in the corner there is a convivial meeting; several elderly gentlemen are gathered round a group of very décolleté ‘ladies’ sitting over a glass of wine and cracking jokes which are anything but delicate. ‘Who are these three ladies?’ ‘Ladies! laughs my better-informed companion; well, the one on the right with the brown hair and short fancy dress is a hairdresser; the second, the blonde with the pearl necklace is known here by the name of Miss Ella, and he is a ladies’ tailor; the third is the celebrated Lottie.’

“But this cannot be a man? The waist, the bust, the delicate arms, the whole appearance is feminine! I am told that Lottie was formerly an accountant. To-day she, or rather he, is simply ‘Lottie,’ and takes pleasure in deceiving men as to his sex as long as possible. At this moment Lottic is singing a song in a contralto voice acquired by prolonged practice, which a female singer might envy. Lottie has also taken female parts on the stage. Nowadays the former accountant is so imbued with his female role that he seldom appears in the street except in woman’s attire, and even wears an embroidered nightdress.

“On closer examination of the persons present, I discovered to my astonishment several acquaintances. My bootmaker, whom I should never have taken for a misogynist, appears to-night as a troubador with sword and plumed cap; and his ‘Leonora,’ in the costume of a bride, generally serves me with Havanas in a cigar store. When Leonora removed her gloves I recognized her at once by her large chilblained hands. Here is my haberdasher promenading in an indelicate costume as Bacchus; also a Diana, dressed up atrociously, who is really a waiter at a café.

“It is impossible to describe the real ‘ladies’ who are at this ball. They only associate with each other and avoid the women-hating men; while the latter also keep to themselves and absolutely ignore the fair sex.’”

B. Feminine Sexual Inversion and Homosexual Love.— Sexual inversion is not rare in women, but manifests itself less publicly than the corresponding masculine inversion. It is called Lesbian love or sapphism; and the women inverts are known as tribades. They are described in history, but may also be ob-served in modern towns. They satisfy their pathological appetite by mutual masturbation, especially by mutual licking of the clitoris (cunnilingus). The feminine invert likes to dress as a man and feels like a man toward other women. She goes in for manly games, wears her hair short, and takes to men’s occupations in general. Her sexual appetite is often much exalted and then she becomes a veritable feminine Don Juan. I have known several women of this kind, who held veritable orgies and induced a whole series of young girls to become their lovers, in the way we have just indicated.

Here again, as in masculine inversion, there is a true irradiated love. Inverts want to marry and swear eternal fidelity; they celebrate their betrothals, even openly, the invert in male attire representing the bridegroom; or sometimes they have secret symbols, such as exchanging rings, etc. These sexual orgies are often seasoned with alcohol.

The excesses of female inverts exceed those of the male. One orgasm succeeds another, night and day, almost without interruption. Jealousy is also as strong as among male inverts. However, these nymphomaniac inverts are not very common.

A characteristic peculiarity of feminine inversion depends on the irradiation of the sexual appetite in woman (vide Chapters IV and V). We have seen that there is much less distinction in woman between love and local sensations of pleasure, and between friendship and love, than in man. When a woman invert wishes to seduce a normal girl, it is easy for her to do so. She first wins her affection by the aid of the caresses of an exalted platonic love, which is not uncommon among women; kisses, embraces, and sleeping in the same bed are much more common among girls than boys, and little by little the invert succeeds in causing voluptuous sensations in her victim. Very often the object of these caresses does not recognize that there is anything abnormal in all this, or gives way to her sensations without reflection, and then becomes amorous in her turn. I will give an example:

A female invert, dressed as a young man, succeeded in winning the love of a normal girl, and was formally betrothed to her. Soon afterwards the woman was unmasked, arrested and sent to an asylum, where she was made to put on woman’s clothes. But the young girl who had been deceived continued to be amorous and visited her “lover,” who embraced her before every one, in a state of voluptuous ecstasy, which I witnessed myself. When this scene was over, I took the young girl aside and expressed my astonishment at seeing her continue to have any regard for the sham “young man” who had deceived her. Her reply was characteristic of a woman: “ Ah! you see, doctor, I love him, and I cannot help it!”

What can one reply to such logic? A psychic love of this kind is hardly possible in man; but if we go to the bottom of the matter and study the nature of woman, we can understand how certain feminine exaltations may be unconsciously trans- formed into love, platonic at first, afterwards sexual. At first, “they understand each other so well,” and have so much mutual sympathy; they give each other pet names, they kiss and embrace, and perform all kinds of tender actions. Finally, a graduated scale of caresses leads almost unconsciously to sexual excitation.

This is how it happens that a normal woman, systematically seduced by an invert, may become madly in love with her and commit sexual excesses with her for years, without being her- self essentially pathological. The case only becomes really pathological when it is definitely fixed by long habit; a thing which easily occurs in woman, owing to the constant and monogamous nature of her love.

#lgbt history #queer history #be gay do crime #cw ableism #cw transphobia #cw homophobia

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theunit-mbti · 6 years

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Analysis of the results of The Unit

So… many people have various comments and disappointments with how The Unit ended earlier this week. I do as well. However, it’s not all doom and gloom and there are little pieces of hope which can be picked up from this. Whether you read the rest of the analysis or not, please please please make sure to support the original bands that these artists belong to.

The narrative is under the cut because it’s rather long – apologies!

Edit: Disclaimer - what I have written below is my opinion on the thoughts of the voting public, NOT my personal opinions on the candidates. I will make this clearer with subsequent edits below. None of this is “hate”.

Let’s start with Unit G

1. Euijin

Euijin had always had a bit of a head start on her fellow competitors for two reasons. Firstly, she had little chunks of extra screentime ever since she mentored Lee Bolim for the first mission. These small but regular doses of “Euijin is a gentle saint” kind of medicine makes a HUGE difference on a survival show with so many competitors. Secondly, she was the only person from her band to be on the competition. This meant that if any Sonamoo fans were watching, their focus was undivided and their voting would stay consistently aimed at her. Sonamoo doesn’t have a large fanbase, due to TSEnt’s abysmal marketing strategems and poor concept choices and changes, but they are at least more heard-of than some of the other groups on the show, which meant she could have had a decent voter-base without the extra screentime anyway.

2. Yebin

Interestingly, Yebin was actually my bias in DIA, from not long after their debut. I thought she was talented and pretty. It seemed that that’s what many other people discovered over the course of The Unit. However, for me, Yebin grew less interesting to me during the programme because in spite of being the best singer in DIA, she was not the best singer in The Unit, by far. Yet sometimes, she was treated as if she was! How frustrating. Nevertheless, she was undoubtedly very, very pretty, and I think that’s what really swung it for her. I reckon several people would have voted for her to prove a point about them “voting for Yebin because she’s the member in DIA with talents AND looks, unlike *ahem* Chaeyeon *ahem*...” Essentially, voting to “prove themselves”. Simple, yet effective, in terms of vote count.

3. NCA

Obviously she’s one of the best singers of the competition, has worked very hard, etc., so is probably one of the most deserving of this top spot. It helped that in terms of the super-awesome vocalists, she stood out for being the shortest and cutest of them all (although not fake-cute).

4. Yang Jiwon

People have heard of Spica – this is what propelled Jiwon to take the no1 position in the rankings for the first few rakings of the competition. She’s safe hands, and talented vocally too.

5. Yoonjo

At this point in the proceedings, having heard the results for places 8, 7, and 6, as well, I started to have a dawning realisation. The majority of the girls who ended up in Unit G were girls that the public would have heard of already – even without The Unit. There was clearly a lot of “only watching the final of the Unit and voting for who I know” going on. I’m glad that Yoonjo made it in, because she can sing, and this probably is her “last chance”, but I never expected her to be in as high a position as 5th.

6. Hyunjoo

As we know from the re-evaluation for My Turn centre, older men love Hyunjoo. The voter demographic for the Unit changed during the final vote due to the text voting (see my explanation below) so more older men would have voted. Hence Hyunjoo making it this high. Similarly to Yoonjo, I’m glad she made it because of “last chances” etc., but at the expense of…?

7. Woohee

Dalshabet was probably the most popular group to be involved in the whole competition, so it’s unsurprising that one of them made it into the final lineup. Notably since Serri was eliminated, all Darling votes would have been focused on Woohee. She probably wouldn’t have needed to do much and still would have made it, but she also managed to be centre for the final performance, so that would have helped too. A “safe vote”, and an unsurprising one. I was a little annoyed originally that Woohee had made it into the final lineup, for the simple reason that her group probably needed the exposure the least, but I’ve since read that she’s now the only DS member still signed with Happy Face so the possibility of DS continuing anyway would be slim… so I’m somewhat glad, in that case, that she can still promote.

8. ZN

Like with Woohee, Laboum had a decent sized fanbase to be getting voters from, as well as the KISSME fanbase from labelmates UKISS. This provided a reasonable pedestal from which ZN was able to work upwards. With Haein and Yujeong eliminated in the previous round as well, there was now no division for Lattes to split themselves, hence the jump in ZN’s rank. Many Lattes have actually been crowdfunding Laboum projects, mvs, etc., so it would have been in their financial interest to propel Laboum further into the spotlight.

9. Suji

I’d like to hope that Suji had some people voting for her because of The Ark, and not just because she’s one of the prettiest girls on the show… but I do think that the latter could have a great deal to do with how she slid into the top 9 in preference of Euna. As I mention below, the voter demographic changed with the introduction of text voting for the final, and more older men would have been voting, potentially. The people who just tuned in for the final would have simply voted either for someone they already knew, or someone who stood out to them, and Suji’s visuals would have done just that. I’m glad she made it, but as she said herself, I would’ve expected her to be standing there with Euna Kim.

Why did Euna not make it?

People tuning in for the final would have been

a) Annoyed that the survival-show maniac Euna Kim was on there – who does she think she is?

b) Disappointed with her performance, since Ting gave her no valuable screen time or moments of glory

c) Uninspired by rap because older men don’t really care for girls who can rap (have you noticed this? I have. Misogynistic fear of powerful women? Idk, I may be taking it too far, but if you consider that Euna is somewhat the opposite of Hyunjoo, then you might understand what I’m getting at)

d) Disinterested because she wasn’t as immediately pretty and as well-proportioned as some other contestants (if I, a Westerner, have noticed that Euna’s proportions aren’t as flattering as some of the others, then a Korean person surely would have)

e) Stronger fans of the show would have assumed, like I did, that Euna was safe, and voted for someone else they were more worried about. Note many netizens saying “how on earth did Euna Kim not make it” but no one actually saying “I voted for her”.

Unit B

1. UKISS Jun

He’s a strong triple threat and handsome to boot, with a consistent KISSME fanbase – no surprises here.

2. Bigflo Euijin

Here was the surprise! When Semmi didn’t make it into Unit G, I feared for Euijin’s safety, because like Semmi, he had only really made himself known through the show, and had negligible prior popularity. However, it suddenly became clear to me that voters for Unit B and G had voted in completely different ways – as explained below – which meant that Euijin was safe. Not just safe, but bloody brilliant. As a Wave, I was in shock at how high Euijin climbed but I really, really do think he had a great leg up, especially amongst the teen girl voters, because he bears a resemblance to BTS’ Jimin.

3. Go Hojung

So a Hotshot member was going to make it, and Hojung’s performances lately have been better and more consistent than Timoteo’s. What cinched it was probably when dance coach Hwayoung asked the Lead Me team if Hojung was a sensitive type and they all agreed. Make the girls swoon over his hot bod and sensitive soul, and there are surely some votes to be found! If Hojung hadn’t been in the competition, Timoteo would probably have done a lot better.

4. Feeldog

Thank goodness!!!!! He’s cute enough to have grabbed the hearts of the younger teen voters but also talented and already had a bit of a fanbase through things like Hit The Stage. He’s been pretty much the most consistently placed person in the entire show. I think his fans knew not to take that for granted because he’d had such hard times previously, and really kept up all voting. Being the only member of Bigstar left in the final maintained that position.

5. Marco

The biggest shocker of the night? Not if you consider what events led to this position. Several fantastic rappers were eliminated in the previous elimination – notably Kanto and Heedo, as well as JunQ, Ungjae, and Hwang Jungha. This meant that anyone looking to vote for a decent rapper was suddenly scrutinising who rapped in the final. It’s no coincidence that the only members of DWTD team who rapped were the ones who made it into the final lineup (Jun and Hansol). Let me repeat that again for those in the back. It’s no coincidence that the ONLY members of DWTD team who rapped were the ones who made it into the final lineup. !!! This was also true for Marco, Feeldog, and kind of Kijung in the Lead Me team. And out of Marco, Jun, Hansol, Feeldog, etc., who did the most rap in the final? Marco. So it wasn’t just his new haircut, it was his looks and his rap. The shame of this, I think, is that there were better rappers than Marco in the DWTD team, but they just didn’t get any rap lines to show them off with (I’m thinking mainly of Seyong here) and Seyong should have been able to outrap Marco, because although I don’t want to diss, Marco’s rap isn’t fantastic. He just has style and humour.

6. Hansol

I have mixed feelings about Hansol. On the one hand he is a trainee and shouldn’t really have been promoting himself on this competition. On the other, he was sitting in the SMEnt mixing pot for ages, on the cusp of debut, and really needs to debut. His performance on the final wasn’t very polished, but his dance was always good and he rapped (see above). He’d also been out of the top 9 a lot so voters were worried he wouldn’t make it – and therefore voted for him more. The teen girl demographic probably loved his visuals too.

7. Daewon

Thank goodness again! Daewon making the final cut restores some of my faith in humanity.

8. Kijung

Should Kijung have been in the competition? Probably not. I also really hadn’t wanted him to make the final. However, his performance on the night was one of the best out of everyone – he was so charismatic on stage and you could tell how much he was enjoying it. This was probably because he was full of love for the group he was in, unlike the My Story group. This is his only redemption to being in the final 9 – he earnt it with that last performance. Plus, teen girls could relate to him and hence voted for him.

Another thing that gave Kijung a constant leg up was Rain’s praise. I wanted to kick Rain with the amount of praise he showered on Kijung, a relative newbie. The focus should not have been on the newest, freshest person with his whole life ahead of him, but on the older, struggling, last-chance ones who this competition was about! I’m bitter but I think Kijung did work hard and I blame Rain more than Kijung.

9. Chan

This was my personal biggest surprise. As an ACE fan, I’m hugely glad, and it’s an incredible feat for members of the same band to have made it into the top for MixNine AND The Unit. Chan did really well to climb like that. However, ACE has had the fastest-growing fanbase in the time the The Unit has been running, so it ought not to be a surprise, especially given the new demographic of teen voters who watched the final, mixed with Chan’s fantastic performance as a main vocalist of Lead Me team (RIP Lee Geon’s performance, it just wasn’t as strong, or as well-filmed as Chan’s). Thank goodness at least one main vocalist made it into the top 9, even if it wasn’t the slightly more “deserving”, older Rockhyun or Jeup.

DISCLAIMER: What you are about to read about those who did not make it IS NOT my personal opinions of those candidates. This is just me reading into what the voting public might have thought, and why they then didn’t receive as many votes as the top 9.

Why did Timoteo not make it?

a) Voters suddenly rebelling and saying “I’m not going to vote for him just because he’s Taemin’s best friend” without looking at his further qualities

b) Some people might not find him as attractive as others in the competition – so no hormonal teen girl vote

c) He may have been one of the people giving the Devil team that weird vibe

d) His performances hadn’t been the best out of everyone lately and he’s not the best singer

e) He also had barely any lines in DWTD

[Disclaimer - as written in my post about ideal line ups, Timoteo should have made it and was an extremely worthy candidate. He worked so hard and is such a skilled dancer and team player]

Why did Donghyun not make it?

a) His expressions make me cringe – everyone says he’s fantastic at expressions but they’re so clearly learnt and not natural, and he does them with a sort of gentle arrogance that isn’t like an awful cocky arrogance, but more like a “oh yes, time to whip out the old smoulder again!” type of arrogance, and maybe people were starting to see that. [Edit: I cringe because I love him, not because I hate him. He makes me squirm because I love him and he doesn’t need to do that expression stuff to be loved.]

b) He’s “too old” for the hip young teens who would have been text voting during the final

c) Everyone assumed he was safe because of the VAST number of hearts on his teaser vid on vlive – which we’d been told would count in some way to the final result

d) He did better when you voted for a larger number of people in the app, because he was probably literally everyone’s 3rd – 9th choice, but when this was narrowed down to only voting for 1 person, he did far less well for the same reason.

[Disclaimer: I believe Donghyun should have made it - he is one of my biases and I was rooting for him from the very beginning of the competition. In fact he was one of the reasons why I started watching The Unit and I am shocked that he missed out, although an anon explained another reason why in a separate post.]

Why did Seyong not make it?

a) Bad portrayal which he was always struggling to bounce back from.

b) He should have fucking rapped. He should have rapped. Everyone forgot he was a rapper, so everyone who liked rap voted for fucking Marco. FFFFFS

c) He should have rapped.

d) RAP could have saved him!!!!

e) DWTD should have had more rap breaks

f) He had barely any lines in DWTD and SHOULD HAVE RAPPED

[Disclaimer: I have been a strong advocate for the clearing of Seyong’s name from early on in the competition. He was a talented man under stress and I believe he has suffered the most from this competition. He was just trying his best and I feel for him, I really do. He should have rapped because he is a fantastic rapper and I feel that by the end of the competition, no one knew that.]

Why did Jeup/ Rockhyun not make it?

a) Younger voter demographic lost interest in them for some bizarre reason

b) Rockhyun wasn’t “attractive enough” for the teen voters

c) Jeup was too attractive and in some respects this diminished his fantastic ability (consider Jaehwan’s success in Produce 101 – his looks were much more understated)

d) They were assumed to be relatively safe?

e) Voters who wanted a main vocal in particular were split between the two

f) They suffered dearly for the poor portrayal of the group dynamic in DWTD team.

[Disclaimer: I fucking love Jeup and Rockhyun, for different reasons and in different ways. They are both super talented vocalists with way more talents stacked on top of that to boot. Rockhyun I have been in awe of ever since his debut in 2012. Go and listen to the dance practice of 100% “Bad Boy” and hear him singing live in the dance studio to see what I mean, it’s literally incredible. Jeup is my special son who is just TOO incredible in every possible direction and has too many talents to count. The fact that neither of these fantastic young men made it into the final nine is a true disaster and as much reason as Donald Trump’s presidential win to not trust a voting public.]

New voter demographics for the text voting system

The voter demographic for the girl votes will have been a different one compared to those who voted for the boys. This led to totally different types of results for Units G and B. The voter demographic for girl groups, via the text vote, will have been older men who may not have voted earlier on in the competition because they didn’t want to install the app on their phone, and who also possibly didn’t even watch the competition. This led to golden oldies being picked, such as Yoonjo, Woohee, ZN, and Jiwon, over the girls who had proved themselves particularly well over the course of the competition, including Yeoeun, Chahee, Euna, and in particular, as any fan of The Unit knows, Semmi. There was nothing to make Semmi stand out in the final – particularly since the camerawork was shoddy and never showed her doing her power vocals as a close up – and so she lost all her gain because of these new text voters.

However, for the boys, the demographic would have been more inclined towards teen girls. This demographic means that voters for the boys would have been more likely to watch the programme without knowing some of the “golden oldies”. This left them more likely to vote for younger, fresher idols such as Kijoong, Hansol, Chan, and Marco, and totally abandon the “golden oldies” such as Seyong, Donghyun and Rockhyun. It’s a shock reversal of what happened with the girls. Frankly, the “golden oldie” style boys who got in were extremely lucky (Daewon, Feeldog).

The boys also had the added pre-final setback of The Unit revealing the general atmospheric personality of the final teams meeting and greeting each other. The cold welcome of Dancing With The Devil team contrasted dramatically with the beagle-ness of the Lead Me team, and that would have influenced several voters. It did so significantly – Dancing with the Devil team were all but decimated and the only two from Lead Me team who didn’t make it were Lee Geon, who’d already had to battle a bad rep, and Dongmyeong, who presumably people didn’t vote for because he was from an instrumental band.

So what silver linings can we glean from the new final teams?

Unit G, although weak on rap, is actually overall quite strong on vocals, and could produce some really nice sounding songs, that look good too providing they work on synchronisation. All 9 of them work hard so there is some great potential here. My main worry for them is that Hyunjoo is a bit of a sore thumb and could spoil the overall vibe but this could be masked and corrected somewhat by some of the others.

Unit B is weak on vocals, as many have pointed out, BUT, they are no worse off than All Day team, if you think about it. And look at what an outstanding performance All Day team gave. So in some respects, they may actually become a stronger performing group than Unit G. Who knows. I await with anticipation.

Whoa, this has been a long and wild ride! If you’ve managed to get all the way through this, I salute you. Just please remember, everyone, to support not only the final members of Units B and G, but also all the groups that featured in the competition, whether they made it to the final or not.

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nikkxb · 7 years

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I'm the anon who asked about your opinion of ffnet. I've used the site for over ten years as a reader/writer, and I have had some of my most fulfilling writing experiences while working with authors there. It's possible that people are less willing to provide feedback when you don't ask for it, and even then, I'm sure you've heard of authors taking personal offense to criticism of their fics. I recommend finding a writing group/forum to join online, since they'll be good for immediate feedback.

(previous ask anon is referring to.)

Anon, I understand that you have the best of intentions with this message, but how do you know I haven’t asked for feedback? At the end of every one of my chapters and stories, I’ve included my thoughts and opinions of what I wrote and conclude with a variation of “Let me know what you think!” If I am to literally ask for reviews in a blunter way than that, then the site is not for me. No author should have to beg for feedback.

“Authors taking personal offense to criticism” – okay, but has the criticism been constructive? Has it been helpful? Has it been anything other than a statement of what the reader has not liked?

In my experience, no. The only anon hate I’ve ever received has been on FF.N and the only ““““““criticism”””””” I’ve received sang to the tune of this:

You know what really pisses me off? How so many people assume that the dominant Alpha in a wolf pack Alpha pair is always male. I’ve seen documentaries and read books (Julie of the Wolves, for instance) where a female is the dominant Alpha. It. Doesn’t. Have. To. Be. A. Male. And guess what? That works for domestic dogs as well. This common prevalence where the female - no matter how feisty or independent she acts - eventually submits to the male is utterly ridiculous. Or at least, it shouldn’t be one sided. It’s an equal partnership, with give and take on BOTH sides. If Kagome is supposed to be a trained Miko, she shouldn’t be putting up with the Youkai misogynists.

Which is hilarious for a number of reasons, but the biggest thing that strikes me is I can’t even respond to the person and try to find out what their actual issue with my story is. If someone has an issue of there being a male Alpha of a pack of wolves, then they shouldn’t be reading a story about Kouga – a canon male Alpha of a pack of wolves. If this reader’s issue lies with the other domineering men in the story, then they simply need to keep on reading because that will be handled.

But they didn’t even give me the opportunity to explain that. And there’s nothing constructive about that review. Nothing because it ignores the actual plot of the story. Are those the reviews you’re referring to? Because yes, I wouldn’t react well either. But I have reacted well to constructive reviews. Reviews intended to help and show options and talk to me like a human being with critical thinking to try and figure out how to get from Point A to Point B. Just pointing out the problems isn’t constructive.

Readers should leave reviews. Period. Whether part of a community or not, readers should always leave reviews – even if it’s something small like a “I liked it!” I saw a friend say this very succinctly:

Readers are consumers - and if you consume something that’s not yours, leave payment.

She expands on this here. This is a brilliant way of stating everything I feel. I’m writing for free, I’m taking time out of my hectically busy life to write, using skills that I’ve cultivated for over a decade and want to keep growing, and I’m now being told that all of that isn’t good enough – that I have to explicitly beg to gain feedback and that I’m being punished for slights other authors have done that have nothing to do with my own personal history when I’ve already found a home on other platforms.

I am so happy you’ve had a wonderful experience in FF.N. I adore that you’ve found your niche, that you’ve cultivated a wonderful group, and that you’re enjoyed your time there. That’s amazing and I hope sincerely it continues. There’s such a fount of people on that site in comparison to others and that you’ve been able to make it work for you is absolutely fantastic. I’m jealous.

My experiences have proven different. I have tried to explain why the site left a bad taste in my mouth. Does that mean I’m going to stop posting? No, not really. It just means I will try to keep my expectations for feedback lower. I will continue updating and posting on that site, and I will try to keep all of my stories there. But I will not spend my free time there. I will not try to find a community on a site that I’ve had horrible experiences with when I’ve already found that through AO3 and Tumblr.

I have found my niche. I’ve explained why FF.N is not for me. Not everything is going to fit everyone and that’s fine. I’ve tried in the past to make FF.N work and it didn’t. I clicked immediately with other platforms and I’m okay with that. I do not begrudge those that click with FF.N, I wish you so much success with it, I’m glad you were able to do so. We are all allowed to enjoy different things which is why I’ve tried to keep my criticism of the site personal to myself.

I apologize if this has been construed as an attack on you and your enjoyment; that was not my intention. I really am only explaining my experiences and why this site doesn’t work for me and I’ve been interacting with FF.N for 14+ years. It works for you and that’s wonderful! It doesn’t work for me and that’s completely okay! Thank you for your message.

#people talking #anonymous #fandom #ff.net #fanfiction #writing #long post

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justanotheraveragelesbian · 7 years

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My Thoughts on Supergirl 2x19: Alex

I haven’t posted a review of episodes 2x17 or 2x18 because work has been crazy and I’ve had zero time. I may go back and post the ones I missed once things slow down a little. For now I will simply say that I’ve been enjoying the last few episodes a lot more than the several before that, and I will talk about some of the reasons why that probably is in my comments for this week’s episode. So, below are my thoughts on “Alex”.

Spoiler warning of course, and I will try to keep this short, but as per usual it will probably end up long.

This was possibly the best episode this season. There were so many good things I’m not sure where to start. So, I will start with the character that I normally hate, Mon-El. He has been playing a bit of a supporting role in the last few episodes and as a result is not nearly as annoying as he was earlier in the season. If they would keep him as a supporting character instead of trying to make him the male lead of the show (which is not needed) then I might actually grow to like him. Chris Wood seems to be a good actor (I haven’t seen him in anything else) and he and Melissa have chemistry (although not as much as she has with Lena, but that’s besides the point). It works as long as it doesn’t take up too much screen time in the show that is supposed to be all about women power. Not to mention that as a side character he is not nearly as misogynistic and potentially abusive as he was earlier in the season.

Okay, enough of Mon-El, let’s get to the good stuff, starting with the B-plot of the episode, Lena and Rhea. I love Lena Luthor. I was thrilled when they promoted her to series regular and I can’t wait to see where they go with her character. I’ve seen a lot of speculation about whether and when she is going to go dark, but I’m hoping that they don’t do that. For me it would be much more interesting for her to always be a morally grey character. That was one of the things that made Maxwell Lord an interesting character in the first season and something that kept me interested in Lex Luthor in Smallville in the early seasons. The relationship/friendship (I’m still convinced Lena is flirting with Kara) Lena and Kara/Supergirl have is great. They have great chemistry, and I’m hoping that we get a lot more friend scenes between them, which will be really hard to do and really hard to balance if Lena begins to knowingly act against Supergirl. I think having her always try to do what she thinks is right, while sometimes not agreeing with Supergirl, but not actively trying to destroy her either, is the way to go. We’ve seen her have to deal with these moral quandaries a few times now, and it seems like she always does what is right for Supergirl or at least what is right in the situation (as evidenced last episode when she “killed” her ex-boyfriend to save Supergirl). I like Rhea as a villain (I mean who could go wrong with Teri Hatcher), but I am not sure how I feel about her and Lena teaming up, primarily because I am not yet sure exactly where it is going to lead. I’m not going to speculate, although I have some theories, but I am looking forward to seeing where it goes. It could be really good.

Now for the great stuff, Kara, Alex, and Maggie. We haven’t been getting a lot of Sanvers in the second half of the season, basically since they got together in the first place. Even the episodes that were supposed to be more Sanvers heavy, like the Valentine’s Day episode, weren’t. But this one delivered in spades. Not only did it have great Sanvers, but the stuff between Kara and Maggie was fantastic. First of all, of course Alex wants her sister and her girlfriend to get along, but the two of them have very different ways of doing things, so naturally they butt heads. The way that the double-date at the beginning set up the dynamic between the two of them for the rest of the episode was great, and the fact that in the end Kara had to convince Maggie to not violate her own convictions was exactly the way it should have gone. Maggie may be a cop and a good one, but she cares about Alex and she is definitely the kind of person who will do anything to save someone that she loves (I’ll come back to that). As for Kara, of course she wanted to just dive in and fix everything, but she can’t because Supergirl is more than just a person or an alien, she is a symbol. I like that Alex reminded her of that, and that Alex was willing to sacrifice herself to protect that symbol. That is exactly who Alex is.

Let’s talk about who else Alex is, because we got to see my three favorite sides of Alex in this episode and I was giddy by the end of it, despite it being really nerve wracking. (I hate watching my favorite lesbian characters in life and death situations because I have seen too many of them not make it out.) Alex is a badass. She proves that time and time again by being a great DEO agent and kicking alien (and sometimes human) butt along side her sister and J’onn, but between her threatening the bad guy despite being in a glass cage and punching the glass when the water was rising and then of course punching the bad guy at the end of the episode, she proved herself to be a badass once again. But that is just one of the things I love about her. She also showed the shy, awkward, baby gay side of herself in the scenes with Maggie. First, when she was talking to her over the computer, and Maggie was being just the absolute sweetest girlfriend and breaking my heart. Chyler Leigh did such a wonderful job with portraying her angst over the possibility of never seeing Maggie again and wanting to tell her everything, and at the same time getting flustered because of what Maggie was saying. Side note, Floriana Lima was fantastic in that scene and made me want to just wrap her up and try to make everything better. Alex also showed how vulnerable she could be in the last scene with Maggie, where they finally said “I love you”. I have to say I cheered when Alex said it, and I was grinning like crazy when Maggie said it back. I love that couple and for them to finally say that to each other was probably my favorite part of the episode and definitely my favorite scene of theirs this season. Finally, I love smart women. Alex is sexy as hell, but she proves time and time again she has one fantastic mind. I was thrilled when she used her pants as a life vest and then for air at the end. Smart women are the best kind of women.

So, obviously I really liked this episode, and I could keep gushing about every little thing, but I won’t. I can’t wait to see what’s next for all of them. I’m hoping we get some more good Sanvers stuff and good Lena stuff and not so much Mon-El, but since we still have to deal with Rhea, I’m assuming more Mon-El is coming. I haven’t missed James in the episodes that he hasn’t been in, which is sad because I loved him in the first season.

I will try to get back to regularly posting these reviews. Until next time.

#supergirl #review #2x19

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theliterateape · 6 years

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Revisiting Culture Through a New Set of (political) Glasses

By Don Hall

In high school, I was definitely a nerd. My friends were nerds. We did things like debate, forensics, band, choir, theater. We were in the middle of Kansas and we were artsy-types. There was, as there always seems to be, a disparity of power — the jocks and cheerleaders had it, the nerds did not.

I’ve told the story of the nerds rising up and nominating one of their own as Homecoming King (You can read it in my newest book, Belief is a Sledgehammer available now on Amazon) but three years earlier, we hadn’t managed that kind of solidarity.

My freshman year was filled with me getting beat up in the parking lot. Beat up in the bathroom. Beat up in the library. Stuffed into lockers only to be let out by teachers who looked at me with disdain at my inability to fend off seniors twice my size. Part of the issue was that I was an incredible smartass (let’s be fair, I never was a smartass, I am and continue to be for my span on Earth.) The other part was that I was one of the bigger (in physical size) nerds. My friends were mostly smaller and so I often was the one the bullying turds had to go through first. I fought back, but not well.

The year before high school, I found my muse. After seeing Meatballs with Bill Murray, I knew how to conduct myself in social situations. The rule breaking wise-ass. The take-nothing-too-seriously sarcastic guy. The cat above it all with the Fuck ’Em attitude.

One of the teachers who seemed to dislike me the most was Coach Strong (No, I’m not changing his name for effect. That was his name.) He exacerbated the animus between the jocks and nerds whenever he could. In gym class, required for all freshmen, it was often a nightmare. Most of the time, he would have us line-up, choose teams and play dodgeball or “touch” football. We nerds generally resigned to take 50 minutes of brutality three times a week.

But then it came time to give us grades. And Strong’s plan was to grade us on our ability to dribble a basketball around 30 orange cones.

“You didn’t teach us how to do that, how can you give us a grade on it?” I asked with my trademarked smirk.

“Get back in line, Hall, and start dribbling.”

I refused. I failed gym.

And it pissed me off.

I went to my debate teacher and asked him what to do. He suggested that I ask to be scheduled for the next school board meeting and make my case. I spent hours typing up the unfairness of basing a grade on a skill not taught in the class and requested either a change in the grades of the full class (including the jocks) or an adequate test to grade us on.

I presented to the school board and they recommended that the entire class receive A’s for the semester with a reprimand to the coach. He quit at the end of the year.

I thought the culture within the school would change. I believed by tearing down the unfairness I experienced, the drama kids and debate kids would gain respect because we had demanded it. That the band geeks would be seen in a different light.

It was a true blue win for the nerds and yet nothing really changed in the culture of the school. I got beat up less but, aside from that, the jocks ruled things and the nerds scattered in the hallways. That’s because the imbalance was not in equal protection or fairness but in power. They had it, we wanted it.

We watched the movies that demonstrated our desire for more. More respect. More dignity. More power.

Stripes

Either a story about two guys at the end of their ropes in life deciding to join the army and finding themselves in a unit full of other misfits in need of some affirmation and power, and transforming them into a better version of themselves. Taking on the power structure and winning. or A story of two white men gaming the system so they could get laid and using the most harassing techniques to do so.

Porky’s

Either a story of a group of hapless losers taking on a maniacal local tyrant and, through humor and guts, bring him down. or A story of a bunch of rapey creeps spying on women in showers.

Weird Science

Either a story of two lonely geeks using their knowledge of technology to create what they think is the perfect woman who teaches them to stand up for themselves and gain confidence. or A story of two white guys whose only reference to the feminine is porn and they create a synthetic woman to fulfill their intel fantasies.

Revenge of the Nerds

You get the idea.

We were inspired by these stories. Stories that pitted the outcasts against the status quo and won. Did we realize that they were all cultural contributors to the continued stereotyping of minorities and the centuries long marginalization of women? Of course not — we were outcasts looking for heroes. We were white kids in Central Kansas. Yet the jocks at our school stayed in exactly the same place: popular, respected and in control.

The only thing that would change that power dynamic would be if we had managed to erase the sports programs completely from the school. And even then, it would take a long fucking wait before the culture changed. Because we didn’t want to share the power. We wanted it all having been denied it for all of our school careers.

I’m no longer in high school but when I look out to a tiny but vocal minority of those seeking to shift the balance of power from the White Patriarchy, sometimes it feels like I never left.

Part of the method of resting control of the power to drive decisions in the world is the erasure of culture. The question becomes whether context can eradicate the culture of yesterday and whether it should. Take, for instance, the erasure of Native Americans from history books read by eighth graders: this painting over both their contributions and defense of themselves creates a false impression of who they were and, even worse, eliminates their very vital contribution of our understanding of the world. Men have been doing this for as long as they could.

Is it better to provide context for Eddie Murphy’s retrograde and dismissive take on homosexuals yet still marvel at the performance of a young black comic at his prime or simply erase the existence of RAW altogether?

How about Gone With the Wind? Better to just do away with it, with it’s racist portrayals and misogynist undertones or watch a film, known to be one of the 100 greatest films ever made, and contextually understand the time period it was filmed in?

Grease? Holy shit...there’s a lyric in Summer Nights that asks, “Did she put up a fight?” Now, my wife would say burn all the copies of every frame because she hates Grease but really?

The transphobic villain in Silence of the Lambs erases Hannibal Lecter?

The crows in Dumbo?

The fact that Rocky Balboa keeps at Adrian until she finally gives in, bordering on what most would call sexual harassment from a much more powerful man?

In listening to a recent pops concert of the music of Lerner and Loewe, it hit me that in a list of musicals that included Paint Your Wagon, Brigadoon, Camelot, Gigi and My Fair Lady, if going by the standards set by #MeToo, we need to torch all of them. Each is a study in patriarchy at work and women reduced to an object.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it is pop culture that changes the culture more than activism. The grudging acceptance of the vast middle for the rights of gay men and women came from Ellen and Philadelphia and Will & Grace — seeing gay men and women, not as a punchline, but as human beings with the same basic problems that they do in their living rooms and streaming online every day. Proximity breeds familiarity and that window we watch is like a window into our backyard. Suddenly people who had never met a gay person before (at least not an out one) felt friendship and closeness to a lesbian with a talk show, felt empathy for a dying gay man, laughed together about the trials of gay men navigating the planet.

It changed their minds in subtle but important ways. It changed the culture.

Back to Circle H.S. for a beat. Over the three years after the victory over Coach Strong, the culture did shift some. We never got rid of the football program but we did manage to pack houses with plays and musicals. The basketball team continued to play but the debate team eventually got state and national titles. The cheerleaders continued choosing looks and thinness over talent but the band and choir racked up accolades throughout the state.

We didn’t take power, we made it for ourselves. We didn’t push anyone out of the way for room, we made more room for ourselves. We endured the backwards teachers and thrived under those with a genuine belief in our right to succeed on our own terms.

When it comes to redefining the culture, it’s relatively easy to cherry pick those moments in cherished songs and films and plays and declare them forbidden due to problematic themes. It’s practically what the internet has been built for. What is harder but ultimately more effective is to ignore the jocks in the place and make room for ourselves. You don’t have to erase the indelibly racist and sexist Revenge of the Nerds in order to create Black Panther. You just have to create Black Panther. Get Out didn’t come around because of activism; it happened because Jordon Peele refused to give up on being excellent as a writer and director and comedian and eventually he had the clout to be nominated for Homecoming King.

Stealing power from those we saw and see as our oppressors is fucking ridiculous. It’s in the view that the guy standing in the doorway, blocking your entrance while talking on his phone, is oppressing you. Sometimes all it takes is to focus on the work you’ve got to do and slide past, take your part of the room and just assume the guy in the doorway was just a rude asshole rather than a Member of a Group Hellbent on Your Oppression.

I’ll confess, with the lens of today, I can’t really watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s anymore. I have a hard time getting past the anti-gay and sexist jokes in Caddyshack. But no one will ever convince me that Stripes isn’t hysterical and that Rocky isn’t a wonderful story of redemption and grit. It’s all OK. Millennials don’t get Seinfeld and I don’t care for the Marx Brothers and that’s how culture works. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

#Meatballs #Stripes #Porky's #Rocky #Weird Science #Revenge of the Nerds #high school #redefining the culture

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republicstandard · 6 years

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Thought-Criminal Jordan Peterson Versus Cathy Newman & The Baader-Meinhof Gang

I say now that it is impossible to deny that the majority of news media in the Western world is little more than a machine for manufacturing Neo-Marxist opinions.

The reason I say this with such certainty is that the body of evidence to support this conclusion is now insurmountable. The idea of an impartial media no longer exists. The proof of this is revealed whenever the topic of identity politics comes up. When you see Daily Mail columnists stumping for feminist ideology, we are in serious trouble. Welcome to Pravda reality.

The catalyst comes from a simply stunning interview that took place on British television last week. If you haven't seen the utter demolition of feminist thought conducted -or should I say committed- by Jordan Peterson yet; you are late to the fun.

youtube

For analysis of the absolute hammering that Channel 4 News' Cathy Newman took in this 30-minute conversation, look no further than Douglas Murray in the Spectator.

If I was Channel 4 I would take it down. If I was Cathy Newman I would sue or seek a super-injunction. I don’t think I have ever witnessed an interview that is more catastrophic for the interviewer. - Douglas Murray

Always grateful for advice from @DouglasKMurray but I won’t be suing or taking out a super-injunction. I thoroughly enjoyed my bout with @jordanbpeterson as did 100s of 1000s of our viewers. Viva feminism, viva free speech. Stay tuned Douglas.

— Cathy Newman (@cathynewman) January 17, 2018

As is so often the case, when a feminist gets shown to be a public fraud the engines of spin fire up. The justification for the damage control exercise was laid at the end of the interview with Peterson itself. Newman points out that critics of Peterson get lambasted online, and claims "there's a lot of it [abuse] out there." I'm sure you can see where this is going.

Such is the scale of threat we @Channel4News are having to get security specialists in to carry out an analysis. I will not hesitate to get the police involved if necessary. What a terrible indictment of the times we live in.

— Ben de Pear (@bendepear) January 19, 2018

Mr. de Pear is basing this drama on using the search function to find instances of the word 'bitch' in the comments below the Youtube video. Of over 50,000 comments, he found 500 occurrences. If we are charitable and assume that all of these comments are directly calling Newman a bitch, we have 1% of the comments being misogynistic. As we know that there are many uses of the word bitch that are not directed at Newman, let alone the many different contexts, and not to mention that this is the comments section of YouTube which is both a cess-pit and full of people calling each other 'bitch' all day every day.

Apparently, this outpouring of hate was amusing to Newman, who was snapped by her producer laughing at the so-called threats as the police were called.

The police have evidently decided not to proceed with charging anyone, or you can be certain that would be front page news. Instead, Channel 4 has hired a 'security expert' to deal with the imminent fedora-Jihad.

Speaking of the news, what angle do you suppose the media are taking? Of course, the reasoned and polite Peterson thrashing the living daylights out of their colleague for the world to see is not newsworthy. Alleged abuse? Now we're talking.

Quick as a flash, the media rallies around their wounded comrade to build the narrative that regardless of the content of the debate -in which Newman effectively tried to call Peterson a white supremacist while apologizing for Maoist philosophy- the real story, as always, is online misogyny.

The reality that Peterson calmly broke down the hail of inept leftist barbs from Newman with grace, politeness and factual positions is irrelevant. The important thing to note is that Peterson is On The Wrong Side Of History And Might Be A Thought Criminal Associated With The Alt-Right And That Is Bad. Please consult your local commissariat for re-education if you found yourself swayed by any unauthorized arguments.

News media personalities were quick to shift to the "misogyny abuse" narrative. Its all they have. Cathy Newman acted in bad faith. She continuously attempted to put words in his mouth, deliberately misquoting him. She was wholly unprofessional & SHOULD get harsh criticism. pic.twitter.com/PtF8mdoQyV

— ☢S.C.R.U.M.P. - Call of Bants (@CheekiScrump) January 21, 2018

The bizarreness continued as Twitter commentators have had a field day pointing out inconsistencies. Indeed, why is it that left wingers get a free pass from behaving terribly, but moderate centrists (or worse) like Jordan Peterson get pilloried? The double standards are quite surreal and signify a dangerous trend in Western society.

My friend @RektRolfe hit the nail on the head: If a conservative says ANYTHING & gets hounded online, the narrative is "freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences of speech." But as soon as its somone on the left that goes out of the window. Its "harassment & abuse.: pic.twitter.com/K1lWOIDTeT

— ☢S.C.R.U.M.P. - Call of Bants (@CheekiScrump) January 21, 2018

The answer is clear. The leftist needs to be shielded from critique at all costs. When the leftist ideology is exposed by an expert interlocutor like Peterson, there is no chance of a victory by fair means. Peterson knows this and has offered Newman another bite at the cherry, which has as much chance of happening as I have of winning an Olympic medal.

How about, instead, we talk again, and try to have a real conversation? You know, where reasonable people try to exchange information instead of where two primates clash for dominance? @cathynewman

— Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) January 21, 2018

In the absence of evidence or champions in the realm of debate to fight the cause fairly, the leftist narrative must thus be protected by foul tactics instead. These tactics include but are not limited to misdirection, denigration, slander, and misrepresentation. In this way, two goals are achieved.

First, Jordan Peterson is further pushed to the 'right' of the political spectrum, by a mass-media assault on what it even means to be in the center. Only the far-right engage in such misogyny, only the far-right are 'transphobic' so, therefore, Peterson must be at best an enabler and at worst far-right himself. Nevermind that he has been an academic at liberal institutions for over three decades and has taught for years about the dangers of National-Socialist thought. The Overton Window is dragged to the left by framing Peterson's supporters as uniformly far-right. This happens because Peterson's positions in this instance are unassailable through debate or dialectic.

Second, the brand of Jordan Peterson is tainted by association with events that are roundly branded as controversial by the media. The idea that the state should mandate what words come out of your mouth should be controversial, not the resistance to it. The idea that men and women are biologically different and that results in different life outcomes but should not entail unfair treatment to either sex is only controversial if you are at some level corrupted by Neo-Marxist ideology.

Save your clicks, here is the hilarious top hits from this garbage. pic.twitter.com/Z0V8FXs0oZ

— Ash Sharp 🇬🇧 🇵🇱 (@6crip) January 21, 2018

It is now mandatory for the hive-minded and spiritually bereft media complex to reference these events every time Peterson makes an appearance. There is a great line from the discussion with Newman where she asks what right Peterson has to comment on such matters that she feels must only be spoken of from a feminist perspective. He replies;

"Because I am a clinical psychologist."

This answer seems to be a perfect one; except that to Neo-Marxists, professional competence always comes second to the pursuit of ideological purity. This is the equality of outcomes that is demanded by leftists- your skill, your person, is second to your ideological purity.

In the media and in future encounters with the Neo-Marxists who operate and control the flow of mass-market information, Peterson is as good as a Nazi. The redefinition and misrepresentation of language itself will continue until morale is destroyed. There is an angering game one can play when presented with a story like this one. Imagine if the roles were reversed, and Peterson was interrogating Newman in this combative style, pushing and poking at feminist thought. The outcry against such misogyny would ring across the planet- and yet it would still only be a battle of ideas. As I said in a recent piece about art on this site, Identity Politics has infected our society to the extent that what we perceive as a mainstream television interview is impossible for the media to analyze without resorting to this Neo-Marxist ideological framework. The fact that Peterson can defend his ideas against Newman's weak critical theory interrogation is a clear sign that Peterson is oppressing her. Viva feminism, indeed.

While this drama has been playing out I noticed a parallel bleeding through. Last night I watched a film called the Baader-Meinhof Complex. I highly recommend you see this film to gather an insight into how the mind of the radical leftist actually works- as a former anarchist myself I recognize many of the logical reasonings of the Rote Armee Fraktion in the thought processes of myself and my former associates.

The leftist ideologues of the Baader-Meinhof gang believed in the Communist struggle against Western Imperialism in Vietnam and Israel, and therefore alliances with Islamic terrorists was perfectly logical. The deaths of Vietnamese civilians was cause to bomb civilians, police and military targets in Germany. The primary issue with ideologues -particularly leftist ideologues- is that they see ideology everywhere except within themselves.

The point is that the Baader-Meinhof gang follow the same fundamental principles of thought that the leftist critics of Peterson follow. While I do not imagine Cathy Newman as being some kind of modern Ulrike Meinhof ready to denounce her opponents as pigs who can be legitimately murdered, the posing of her ideological positions as reasonable despite their extremity is interesting to me. Newman appeared offended by the idea that the ideology of trans-activists was Maoist. The concept that leftist ideology today is related to that murderous diktat followed by Mao, Stalin, and the Baader-Meinhof is alien to her. I hope she would not be offended if I said that this attitude is that of the useful idiot- a partisan mouthpiece for political positions that she does not understand in full. If Newman did understand her own professed ideology, then she might well not hold those beliefs any longer.

Feminism is Neo-Marxist.

I do not intend these words to offend, but then as Peterson points out in the interview, in order to think I must accept I may offend someone. Newman and her ilk are engaged in a permanent struggle to paint themselves as the moral superior to everyone else, as all subscribers to Marxism must. In this way, you -the consumer of news products- are being forced to accept their position to be true, or else you are a bigot, a sexist, et cetera.

This is exactly what Mao, Che Guevara, and the Baader-Meinhof gang did too, to various degrees. While the modern supremacist will clearly delineate that they believe the black or the Jew is the Untermensch, the Neo-Marxist is more subtle but more deadly by far. The totalitarian left understands that human emotions are powerful and the manipulation of these, coupled with the desire within us to be doing a 'moral'act -whatever our perception of that concept is- this is a powerful method of creating compliance. In the cause of righteousness, Baader-Meinhof terrorists kidnapped, bombed and hijacked. With the best of intentions -according to him, at least- Mao gave the order to liquidate and starve millions, and millions complied.

Thorwald Proll, Horst Söhnlein, Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin.

As I've said in these pages before, now that the attempt to control the world through economics has failed, the Neo-Marxists live through control of culture. The difference between Newman's special pleading and Ulrike Meinhof's rigid and violent dogma is not as huge as any of us might like to think. The core concept both Newman and Meinhof considered true is that someone, somewhere, is a victim. For the noble goal of saving that victim, all manner of tyranny against perceived oppressors is not only justifiable but eminently desirable. In the 1970s when there was a possibility of Communist hegemony, guns and bombs were used. Today, the gun is out of fashion but the pen -or keyboard- is more powerful than ever.

As Peterson himself writes;

The dangers of self-deception about past events, far from trivial in the personal case, are tremendously magnified in the social arena. The careless use of memory can lead directly to the grave abuse of people.

Conducted daily through the media and politicized social media complex is a reframing of history, even up to events of a few moments ago. In thirty years, who will choose to watch a thirty-minute interview between a now-elderly psychologist and feminist journalist? A few, perhaps. How many more will know the story, but only know the story as it is stored in our collective cultural memory and its replacement/augmentative structure, the internet?

The narrative shaped today will persist like never before in human history, which is why it is so important to not allow this abuse of reality by mainstream media ideologues to pass without protest.

from Republic Standard http://ift.tt/2G3zdNH via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Republic Standard

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thisaintascenereviews · 7 years

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The Underrated Tunnel Of Love: A Fall Out Boy Essay

By Bradley Christensen

Plenty of albums that are released get unnoticed by the general public, and as a result, they go under the radar for many people. This could be a few reasons, mainly because an album is from a DIY / indie band, so of course not many people will know about them, but maybe the album is from a band that isn’t as popular as they used to be, or from a band that’s not mainstream-friendly. People will complain when their favorite band isn’t as popular as they should be, among many other things, but these same people fail to understand that the most popular music is often the most simple. Pop music wants to appeal to a general audience. People want stuff that’s catchy, energetic, and lightweight, and it’s very pretentious to assume that something without a deep meaning isn’t good. A lot of bands, artists, and albums are very underrated, and I agree with that, but it’s unrealistic to think that they’ll be winning Grammy awards, and getting the number one song in the country. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen, because it does. Back in the early 00s, a lot of rock music was very popular. One band that stuck out in particular was Fall Out Boy, a Chicago-based hardcore turned pop-punk band. Most people know who Fall Out Boy is, but in case you don’t, they’re a band that helped to influence the early 00s pop-punk scene into what it is now, as well as bring the genre more into the mainstream. Armed with powerful and charismatic vocalist / guitarist Patrick Strump, primary lyricist / bassist Pete Wentz, drummer Andy Hurley, and guitarist Joe Trohman, the band was one to be reckoned with in the early 00s. After releasing a couple of staple pop-punk albums in the form of 2003’s Take This To Your Grave and 2005’s From Under The Cork Tree, the band got even bigger with 2007’s Infinity On High. A year later, they followed Infinity On High with 2008’s Folie A Deux, and not only were critics not all that impressed by it, fans accused the band of selling out. Because of this negative reaction, the band went on hiatus for about four years.

I remember the day that Fall Out Boy released their big comeback single, “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark,” and people were very split on that song, because of the band’s decision to go completely pop on it. They’ve been around since, and in that time, they put out two albums, 2013’s Save Rock and Roll and 2015’s American Beauty / American Psycho, both of which I loved. In the year four years that Fall Out Boy were on hiatus, and the five years that Folie A Deux came out, I noticed a lot of people were changing their tune on that album so to speak. The album went from their most hated to being their most beloved, or at least on par with the “classic” albums. Personally, as much as I used to love the first two albums, and while I still love them today, they haven’t aged as well as other albums in their discography. Whether it’s for the lyrics being very cringy at times, and borderline misogynistic, Stump’s vocals being very rough around the edges, or the overall sound just being dated early 00s pop-punk, both Take This To Your Grave and From Under The Cork Tree aren’t top tier albums for me, but I will admit that the latter album’s singles are some of their best songs, and even a few other cuts from that album are great. Going back to Folie, though, I see people today exclaiming that’s their most underrated album, but I’d like to make the case that 2007’s Infinity On High is their most underrated. Sure, this album is my favorite of all time (tied with 1967’s Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles), and it’s the album that got me into music (insert shameless plug for the joint review that I wrote with my best friend Jake last week about its tenth anniversary), but I still wholeheartedly believe that this album is their most underrated (and their best).

Folie A Deux’s problem that is that came out at the wrong time, because the band were in the limelight with Infinity On High, and they had their pop-punk albums before that, but this album was their first foray into more accessible, mainstream-friendly, and pop territory. People didn’t expect them to do that, but that’s one huge reason why Infinity On High is more underrated – they were a pop-rock band for much, much longer than Folie A Deux. Infinity On High serves as a transitional album, because it wasn’t a pop-punk album, but it wasn’t a total pop-rock album, either. One of its best traits is that it bridges a lot of influences, sounds, and ideas together to make for a very unique, eclectic, and interesting pop-rock / pop-punk album that the “scene” hasn’t ever heard. Infinity On High is an album that’s the only one of its kind. Can you name another pop-punk album with elements of R&B, hip-hop, post-hardcore, pop, and flamenco? Folie A Deux, as great as it is, doesn’t do as much in terms of its musicality and instrumentation. Whenever I listen to Infinity On High, I’m always amazed at how many styles are put together on this album, and even after ten years of listening to this album, I’m still thrown for a loop at a lot of these songs, because they still manage to keep me on my toes. No two songs are alike here, and it’s easily their most experimental, surreal, and weirdest album. They were experimenting with pop song structures, hooks, and even production techniques far before Folie A Deux was released, or even their last couple of albums.

That’s the main thing that makes this album more underrated than Folie A Deux, but even the rest of the album follows that eclectic, weird, and unique approach. Patrick Stump experiments with a lot of vocal techniques throughout the album, really pushing his voice into places that he never had gone, and Pete Wentz’s lyrics dive into some very interesting, unique, and even at times uncomfortable ideas, mainly about fame, and the band’s relationship with how famous they had been getting during the last four years that they rose to prominence in the pop-punk scene. Similar to the last couple of albums, Infinity On High is very personal, but it’s not as dated, immature, or cringey as the lyrics on those two albums. The lyrics are very clever, relatable, interesting, and intense / uncomfortable at times. Wentz even goes out of his comfort zone a few times, writing about things that aren’t personal, such as a prolific court case, but it doesn’t make the album any less interesting. Folie follows in that idea, talking about less personal things, and while the lyrics are still very clever, interesting, and worthwhile, they don’t connect as much as they do on this LP. I think that’s because this is the first time that Fall Out Boy went out of their comfort zone, and that alone is more worthwhile to me than Folie A Deux. It’s a great album, but this album was mindblowing to me, both as a 13-year-old and 23-year-old, because this is one of the most unique, diverse, and eclectic rock albums that I’ve ever heard. It’s an album that I loved when I first heard it, but I love it even more when I’m older, because I understand more of the intricacies, subtext, and subtleties of the album itself, the lyrics, or the instrumentation.

Part of why Folie A Deux is so underrated is because people hated it so much, but when they realized that they overreacted, they had to big deal to proclaim how great it is, despite how a lot of people already knew that. When Infinity On High came out, I remember people loved that, too, but because people loved it so much, they kind of forgot about it. I don’t hear this album come up much in conversation when people talk about the best Fall Out Boy records, it’s always the first two albums and Folie, that’s it. People hated that album, and now that they revisited it, only to find that it’s actually great, they want to act like they’re the only one that knows. Some people genuinely think it’s their best album, as well as their most underrated, but I’ve noticed that it’s a trend to think all of this, now that more people love it. It’s been getting a better reputation over the years, and I’m glad about that, but Infinity On High has always been the best, most interesting, and most underrated album from their discography. The amount of risks they took, the experimentation on this album, and the ballsy approach they went with adapting and combining so many styles of music, it was completely unheard of in the pop-punk scene. The strangest pat of that, however, is that it’s still unheard of. A lot of pop-rock albums similar to Folie have come out, but there’s only one Infinity On High. This is their lightning in a bottle of an album. No band can replicate this album, as well as what they were trying to do. Not even the band itself can replicate this. I’ve been saying this for a long time now, but Infinity On High is Fall Out Boy’s most underrated album. I might be saying that as a longtime fan of the band, and how Infinity On High is my favorite album, as well as the album got me into music, but I’d be talking about this LPm regardless. Underrated or not, can we just simply agree that Infinity On High is a masterpiece of an album, especially ten years after its release? Note: The picture that I posted along with this is a vinyl copy that my girlfriend got me for Valentine’s Day, and I’m very, very happy, thankful, and grateful that she would get me this. I love it, but I love her more.

#infinity on high #fall out boy #folie a deux #from under the cork tree #american beauty american psycho #patrick stump #joe trohman #andy hurley #pete wentz #take this to your grave #save rock and roll

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