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auroracalisto · 4 years

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ｍａｓｔｅｒｌｉｓｔ

started: 24 june 2020 last updated: 29 october 2020 see what I will write for here want to submit a request? do it here (:

THIS MASTERLIST WILL NOT BE UPDATED AS OF 18 NOVEMBER 2020. FIND MY NEW MASTERLIST HERE!

☼ BIRDS OF PREY ☼

roman sionis

Roman’s Girl┆first chapter of multiple┆Roman Sionis gets what he wants. And when he sets his eyes on you, a girl ten or more years his junior, he’ll get you. Lucky for him, despite your shy and flustered nature, you want him just as much as he wants you.

married life┆short┆the two were always at it—now, the reader was in the middle of it. harley doesn’t care for roman, but she wouldn’t dare hurt you. hell, she would kidnap you—and that’s how you ended up here.

hormones and clubs┆one-shot┆the reader is pregnant and begs roman for a chance to go to his club before she goes into labor. it doesn’t exactly go how she’d like it to go.

☼ CRIMINAL MINDS ☼

emily prentiss

i love you┆short┆based on the quote “do you still love me?”

my everything┆requested┆by @millipop18: Hi! I love what you write! Could I request a emily prentiss x reader where she comforts the reader who’s struggling with depression? Have a nice day, much love xxx

spencer reid

not alone, never alone┆requested┆ by @amy-de-l-abc. The request was quite long, but the jist of it was having a suicidal reader, but one who isn’t quite able to do anything. She and Reid start out as friends but the ending will have them getting together. Fluff on Reid’s part, as he comforts her when she is feeling down. Reader also feels like she can’t depend on her therapist or her family, and unfortunately, not even a suicide hotline will help (in a very negative way, which is purely for this story’s purpose).

empty hearts┆short┆in which the reader tries to get spencer to talk to them, but he’s just not listening.

useless goodbye┆short┆the reader dies right in front of spencer.

moon and back┆requested┆by @petrichor-ds. “i loved you to the moon and back, you know.” for spencer when he’s comforting his SO who has been ~going through it~ w depression ??

jack-o’-lantern┆short┆where you carve pumpkins with spencer and he tells you how carving pumpkins became a thing.

derek morgan

something extra┆one-shot┆where you’ve been married to morgan and now you’re expecting your second child (with a little extra surprise). the team decides to throw you a baby shower.

baby kicks┆requested┆by anon. hiii, don’t know if ur taking requests rn. but if you are, i would love if you could do an imagine with derek morgan, where the reader is in her 7 or 8th month of pregnancy. and the team is out on the field and the baby kicks and everyone gets so excited, but especially morgan because that’s literally his baby?

☼ GOTHAM ☼

victor zsasz

forever until the end┆first chapter of multiple┆the reader is falcone’s long lost daughter whose mother fled to washington after an argument got out of hand. she was raised in an abused home where if she even mentioned her unknown father, she would be hurt. a couple of months after turning twenty-one, she’s beaten to the point she packs her things in the middle of the night and leaves. she does everything she can to get to gotham, even going as far as stealing a car. in gotham, she, fortunately, meets her father, along with a man named victor zsasz who was given the assignment of keeping the reader safe while she gets used to the city. zsasz has never dreaded a job more, but he ends up surprising even himself when he begins to like the reader.

imagines:

you being done with victor’s shit.

☼ HAIKYUU!! ☼

sugawara koshi

grey┆one-shot┆you had always wondered why the stripe of color on your wrist was grey. moving to a new school in the miyagi prefecture, you find out exactly why.

rest of my life┆short┆what sugawara would say if you ever asked him if you could spend the rest of your life with him.

tsukishima kei

it’s you┆one-shot┆after watching Avengers: Endgame, you meet your soulmate for the first time.

ukai keishin

Unanticipated┆one-shot┆the reader is an English teacher at Karasuno, who lived in the United States for much of her life. Never did she think she would meet her soulmate; at the age of twenty-four, she had yet to find them. Yet, one day, after a day of teaching, her friend Takeda asked her if she would come to the boy’s volleyball club meeting. She did. To her surprise, she remembered how much she loved volleyball and actually found her soulmate in that very gym.

aone takanobu

jackets┆short┆where aone points out that you have something on your shirt and he gives you his jacket.

preferences

how you meet includes hinata, kuroo, oikawa, tsukishima, sugawara, and ukai

☼ HARRY POTTER ☼

draco malfoy

sick┆one-shot┆where draco comes to join you in the common room, coughing his head off.

☼ HETALIA ☼

russia

birthday surprise┆one-shot┆no one seemed to like Ivan. except for you and the children where you worked. with his birthday going unnoticed by your coworkers, you decided to call Natalia up and make it possible for them to celebrate, only asking for friendship in return.

2p! nyo! america

pissy proposal┆one-shot┆Emily’s worried that you’re going to leave her. You make sure she knows that she’s the only one for you.

2p! russia

scared┆short┆our dear reader is pregnant. and she’s really nervous about telling viktor.

america

cute neighbor┆short┆alfred ran out in just his underwear after the fire alarm went off. you luckily had a blanket to spare.

☼ LUCIFER ☼

lucifer morningstar

willpower┆one-shot┆lucifer really doesn’t understand your motives. he tries to figure it out. platonic lucifer x reader.

necessary goodbye┆one-shot┆where the reader loves lucifer, but he’s in love with detective decker.

necessary realization┆requested┆pt. two of necessary goodbye, where the reader is engaged and she brings lucifer her wedding invitation. after she leaves to return to her hotel room for that weekend, he comes after her.

imagines:

lucifer preparing to show you his true face.

marcus pierce/cain

poisoned words┆one-shot┆where the reader is in love with pierce and they go undercover together. reader is poisoned and she goes to the hospital. after coming back, she tries to talk to pierce about how she feels. he shoots her down. i promise, there is a somewhat fluffy end to this.

uncanny resemblance┆requested┆you like the lieutenant. you cannot figure him out. it leads to a home invasion and your uncanny resemblance to a string of victims for anything to happen between the two of you.

amenadiel

lost and found┆one-shot┆the reader’s child, leo, gets lost and goes to the police department. amenadiel and lucifer are there and leo goes straight to amenadiel.

ella lopez

nerd basket┆requested┆being ella’s significant other is always filled with geeky questions and gifts. for your anniversary, she has more questions than you anticipated for your early anniversary gift.

☼ SUPERNATURAL ☼

crowley

fading┆one-shot┆The reader doesn’t know what to do with their self after Crowley dies, right in front of them. There’s nothing that they can do except grieve.

sam winchester

imagines

you hate when Sam says, “All Hallow’s Eve.”

☼ THE AVENGERS ☼

steve rogers

101┆first chapter of three┆steve finally meets his soulmate at the ripe age of 101. his soulmate is 24 and good friends with peter parker.

tony stark

shut up, stark.┆short┆tony stark is arguably the reader’s best friend, despite the constant jokes. he would give anything to help the reader with their constant anxiety.

stephen strange

birthday plans┆short┆It’s Stephen’s birthday. Tony called and said he was having a cookout. But you need to make sure Stephen and your little girl, Rosa, are ready for the event itself.

peter parker

liability┆one-shot┆somehow, the reader is in a predicament that only Spider-man can save them from. But just a couple seconds of Peter not paying attention literally cost them their life.

stalker┆short┆where the reader is being followed and peter comes to the rescue.

imagines

peter loves halloween and among us, a little too much.

natasha romanov

cute┆short┆about natasha calling you cute.

loki laufeyson

a little crush┆short┆in where loki is suuuper vulnerable. fluffy.

imagines

loki doesn’t like midgard holidays.

bucky barnes

cynophobia┆short┆where you’re afraid of dogs and it takes bucky to save you from one trapped in your apartment.

☼ THE LORD OF THE RINGS ☼

samwise gamgee

conceal, don’t feel┆short┆in which samwise doesn’t return your feelings.

☼ THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY ☼

diego hargreeves

replaceable┆one-shot┆in which diego loves lila, you love diego, and you witness the death of your best friend, elliot.

klaus hargreeves

back to the future┆short┆in which you are in love with klaus. he returns the feelings, but unfortunately for you, he does not want you coming to 2019 with him and his siblings.

allison hargreeves

imagines

cuddling with allison.

☼ THE VAMPIRE DIARIES ☼

series:

for the love of you┆the reader is summoned by bonnie, on accident, to the world of the mikaelsons. as confused as she is, she comes to realize that not only has she found her soulmate, she’s found four soulmates. PART ONE PART TWO┆more coming soon

elijah mikaelson

The Soulmate Principle┆one-shot┆Dear Prince Elijah should have just left you alone. But with the Soulmate Principle, he just couldn’t help himself. And it just so happened to cost you your life.

hugs and kisses┆requested┆Hello! Can I request an Elijah x reader one shot; just fluff with lots of kisses and cuddles? Btw, love your blog ^^ — Anon

could you be?┆one-shot┆It’s been on Elijah’s mind for some time. Would you feel the same way? Would you want him for the rest of your life?

ocean’s beauty┆one-shot┆Klaus, of course, the traveller he is, decides to take everyone along with him. You’re a human and you’re married to Elijah. Oh, and your ship’s hit an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic—and it’s sinking quickly.

kiss of life┆one-shot┆polyamorous reader in a relationship with elijah, klaus, and kol has died. however, she comes back in a revenge plot by a witch who lost her wife due to klaus.

injury┆short┆where you are injured and elijah takes care of you.

glitter┆short┆based off of the song glitter, by patrick droney. the reader is dead, but not entirely gone. elijah doesn’t know this.

choose me┆one-shot┆elijah has been a bad boyfriend, in the sense that he’s always gone and never takes into consideration how that makes you feel.

surprise parties┆requested┆Hii! If the bingo requests are still open can you do a one shot of elijah x reader with the birthday prompt it can be like rebekah throwing a birthday party for the reader or just like elijah fluff, up to you <33 — anon

she will be loved┆requested┆Hi! Can I please request an (platonic) Elijah x 3-4 year old fem!child oneshot where when Elijah went to Mystic Falls (when he needed Elena) and when he’s walking, he hears crying and finds her alone on the streets. I’m sure his heart would absolutely break at the sight and he would do anything he can to help calm her down. He obviously wouldn’t leave her on the streets, deciding right then and there that he wants to adopt her, so he brings her home with him. Omggg he would be such a soft (and veryyy protective) dad and all of the Mikaelsons (once they were undaggered) would love her so much 🤧 (Also Elijah would absolutely lose it if the Mystic Falls gang ever brought Y/n into any of the drama) — @kpopgirlbtssvt

a welcome arrangement┆requested┆Hi! If requests are open, could I request an Elijah x Reader where the reader is a vampire and long time friend to the Mikaelson's, and Rebekah and the others try to set her up with Elijah because they know they both like each other? I love your writing!! 💕 — anon

imagines

you adopt a child with Elijah.

klaus mikaelson

you’re safe now┆one-shot┆the reader leaves the mystic grill with the intent of going home. instead, something distracts her and she’s attacked. her soulmate is the one who saves her life. crazily enough, it’s the same guy who she was staring at just moments earlier.

pretend boyfriend┆short┆ reader is being watched by some creepy guy at the mystic grill. she asks dear klaus to pretend to be her boyfriend.

which disney princess are you?┆short┆Klaus walks in on you taking a Which Disney Princess Are You? quiz on Buzzfeed. Color him intrigued.

heather┆short┆in where the reader is in love with klaus, but he loves heather.

endearment┆short┆klaus is in love with you. but he doesn’t know if you return the feelings.

kiss of life┆one-shot┆polyamorous reader in a relationship with klaus, elijah, and kol has died. however, she comes back in a revenge plot by a witch who lost her wife due to klaus.

forgotten lifetimes┆one-shot┆reader has dementia and has forgotten her children on multiple occasions. now, she’s forgetting klaus.

writer’s block┆short┆where the reader is suffering from writer’s block and klaus comforts the reader so they don’t get upset because of it.

silent treatment┆requested┆hi, can you please write an imagine with klaus mikaelson? his gf calls him by one of her close friend’s name (that he don’t like bc he’s possessive like that) and he gives her the silent treatment — anon

one night stands, and then some┆requested┆hi! i just wanted to say that i love your blog! i have a request, for a klaus mikaelson drabble/imagine. where the reade had a one night stand with him (instead of hayley) and now she’s pregnant. whatever else you want to do with that! thank you! ❤️ — @mikaelson-emma

a bolt from the blue┆one-shot┆the reader has recently moved from colorado and finds one of her first cases on the job to be a dead doctor, invited to a ball held by the mikaelsons. she goes, expecting to find the killer, but instead, she finds that two of the mikaelsons have fallen for her—klaus and rebekah.

kol mikaelson

take a hint┆requested┆can you do a kol mikaelson one where Caroline is distracting Klaus and she brought the reader with her so she could distract kol? maybe it can be based on the song take a hint from victorious? i’ve listened to it and thought it would be funny and cute! thank you! — @mikaelson-emma

family game night┆one-shot┆where you play Monopoly with the Mikaelson’s and the youngest finds out he’s developed a little crush.

kiss of life┆one-shot┆polyamorous reader in a relationship with kol, klaus, and elijah has died. however, she comes back in a revenge plot by a witch who lost her wife due to klaus.

tell me a lie┆short┆loosely based off the quote, “my favorite lie was, ‘i love you.’” definitely not happy. reader was cheated on.

forsaken hearts┆short┆kol doesn’t love you. what’s his reason?

talks of mortality┆one-shot┆about you trying to talk kol into taking the cure, but he doesn’t want to listen to what you have to say.

truth or dare┆one-shot┆after a game of truth or dare, you reveal to your friends and siblings that you’re dating kol mikaelson.

times of change┆short┆an argument between kol and the reader.

imagines

kol pisses you off

rebekah mikaelson

pesky┆short┆using the sentence prompt, “can someone kill him again?”

imagines

rebekah reveals how she truly feels.

damon salvatore

Closure┆one-shot┆a year has passed since Damon and the reader broke up. Damon was with Angie, the reader was a depressed shell of herself. A drunken three AM phone call is exactly what it takes for the reader to get some closure.

by your side┆requested┆Can I get a fluff fic of either Elijah Mikaelson or Damon Salvatore where the reader is going through a rough time (depressive episode) and they comfort reader through it? 😔 — anon

stefan salvatore

only time will tell┆requested┆a stefan soulmate au — @123cvcz

lovelorn hearts┆requested┆heyyy, can i request a angst fic where reader is damon’s best friend and stefan has a huge crush on her, she overhears damon teasing him about it which leads to his confession, but she’s unsure if she feels the same way and he gets his heart broken all over again? (after elena) thanks, your writing is lovely. — @xoxosinister

miscellaneous

imagines:

hope hearing stories about you.

☼ X-MEN ☼

charles xavier

happiest year┆one-shot┆although the reader loves charles—although she makes sure he knows that she would do anything for him, he throws it all away. the reader leaves and moves on with her life.

erik lehnsherr

embarrassing moments┆requested┆BROOOOOOO i didn’t know you wrote for the x men … could i please request smth w erik?? smth with mutual pining ~~~ maybe reader is an awkward mutant who’s insecure and can’t talk to erik ……. bro the erik thirst has been REAL recently — @petrichor-ds

sparks fly┆requested┆reader is a cheerful mutant w some sort of electricity ability, and she’s bright until erik comes around. then she’s removed, quiet, and reserved. charles has had enough and pairs them up to do training demos tgt (electricity overlaps w magnetism a bit) and then ~romantic tension~ and then reader finally confesses to him after he’s like “why r u so nervous????” — @petrichor-ds

☼ THE 100 ☼

bellamy blake

imagines:

you’re left behind at mount weather, instead of gina.

#reader insert #x reader #masterlist #fanfiction #x-men #twilight #the vampire diaries #the umbrella academy #lotr #the hobbit #avengers #haikyuu!!#criminal minds #birds of prey

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sportsgeekonomics · 3 years

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My notes/loose transcription of the NCAA v. Alston Supreme Court hearing, March 31, 2021

I am going to try to keep my SCOTUS commentary in this thread and try to be factual (albeit sarcastic, when warranted). Stay tuned.

And we're up with Roberts introducing the case and asking Seth Waxman to start. Bang... we're off.

Waxman begins with a myth, that college sports have always been amateur. he says 2 errors: lower courts redefined amateurs too narrowly. Then allowed cash payments. This would make college sports professional, he says. He argues the NCAA rules are so clearly good that subjecting them to a full rule of reason is a nightmare. Roberts asks: SO you want Quick Look? Waxman, yes, but we also realize it's a little weird to say we lost at trial but we were so clean there's no way we should have been asked to defend ourselves. Roberts says we've never used Quick Look to dismiss a case. Waxman agrees in a "look over here" way by pivoting to other cases outside of SCOTUS. Roberts interrupts. Asks "pay for play" question WHICH I DID NOT EXPECT. A factual question about amateurism. This bodes well for athletes, I think Thomas up -- says he is curious why coaches aren't also paid less than pro coaches. Waxman explains Law v. NCAA prevents them from doing this. Claims that Law says Amateurism is good but capping coaches pay is wage fixing. Will be interesting what Thomas responds Thomas says it's odd to him coaches pay has ballooned. Now he turns to Board of Regents. Thomas asks if SCOTUS did a quick look re: amateurism in BoR. Waxman has to explain BoR was unrelated to amateurism, but rather TV. He explains the TV restraint was explored under FULL rule of reason. Then he tries to explain the way you get from that to the Quick Look, and cites American Needle "twinkling of an eye"/ Breyer is up. Breyer asks "what are you complaining about?" The injunction? Breyer than says "that could be VERY expensive" (sounds like Breyer is pro-Amateurism, sadly) is that what you are attacking? Waxman says antitrust courts lack the ability to judge amateurism. Breyer is like "what is the line in the injunction that allows the [dreamed of craziness]" Waxman lists some "pay for play" things in the injunction Waxman focuses on the schools' ability to essentially label as educational thing that are not "necessary or reasonably limited" to education Waxman says -- look at college coaches salaries -- they went through the roof. Alito up. Alito lists some of the amici who explain how everything other than college athlete spay is outrageously professional.

Waxman embraces the State Law NIL stuff -- look this will allow them to be paid, so they will ignore academics and focus on money. List the 35 hour rule (is it 35?) Says only 24-25 schools make money. We have an Everybody's Broke moment!

Alito is going on on the statistical shenanigans of NCAa grad rates., Asks what the P5 FB grad rate is -- Alito understand those #s are padded with crew and fencing teams. Surprising! omg, Alito paraphrases Schwarz saying Athletes are already paid. Scholarships are a form of pay. Waxman says "not under our definition of pay" Will Alito come back with the idea that the definition game is circular logic? [SPOILER ALERT -- Kavanaugh did just this later!]

Alito says his time is up. Sotomayor up. Why aren't the conferences, which remain allowed to enforce amateurism, still able to to enforce? Waxman claims its a prisoner's dilemma, but the prisoner's dilemma was rejected in this case record. Ken Elzinga explicitly claimed Prisoner's dilemma. Roger Noll demolished the argument. Elzinga dropped it at trial. Waxman answers Sotomayor with slippery slopes, OMG to much judicial supervision. It will be a parade of law suits, with people who were harmed asking for justice. (why is that bad?)

Elena Kagan brings the FIRE: Isn't amateurism just a price fixing cartel? Why not think of this as competitors getting together with total market power and fixing prices?

Waxman says the product is not a new thing ( think he's implying this is not a sham). Kagan interrupts. Things have change since 100 years ago. Says she's unmoved. Says "competitors as to labor combining to fix prices" I'm thinking I may propose to J. Kagan. Kagan continues, "Why does there need to be coordination on the cost of labor?" Waxman says "b/c we define the product" by price-fixing. Kagan says that might work except isn't the court's evidence that "lack of pay to play" was not what drives demand. Waxman disputes. Says 10% of people would watch less if $10K grants were given. Then he says this is about product differentiation. She thanks him. Gorsuch up.

Gorsuch gives a long preamble on how he loves loose JV rules. But then Gorsuch says the same thing as Kagan: Here we have Monopsony control over labor price. That's not the usual JV situation. Why isn't Monopsony control over labor, at least, enough to get to a full rule of reason

<OMG FREUDIAN SLIP>Waxman says the NCAA is defined as the reduction of COMPETITION. Then corrects himself to Compensation.

He says as long as you accept the NCAA is defined by capped pay, then all you need is abbreviated review. Points to pro-NCAA cases in other circuits. Gorsuch says Waxman did not answer his question.

Gorsuch asks "does the monopsony status matter for level of rule of reason scrutiny?" Waxman: What level of inquiry rests in step 3. (But I think that admits Rule of Reason, no?)

Kavanaugh turns to the baseball exemption, as having not been replicated. Suggests Board of reasons is dicta (first "dicta" quote I think). Kavanaugh says it seems "schools are conspiring ... to pay no salaries" He calls NCAA's logic circular Kavanaugh comes close to asking the Schwarz question (the Schwarz question is: if school all hate "pay for play," why do you need a rule against it? Who's going to pay?)

Waxman say the NCAA is the most successful product in the history of America. Or he said something close to that. wow. I'd go with the automobile, maybe.

Waxman says EVEN IF CONSUMERS WERE TOTALLY FINE WITH PAID COLLEGE ATHLETES, we still should be allowed to price fix.

Kavanaugh says if consumers are ok what's wrong with $6K? (btw, I think focusing on the amount is the wrong approach, but the fact that Kavanaugh is doing that strikes me a good sign for athletes).

Coney Barrett up. She asks "why does the NCAA get to define what pay is?" She suggests a lot of people play college sports explicitly for the compensation -- getting to go to college.

Waxman says "well producers get to define their products" So we get to define what we think not-pay is, and so we can say "you aren't being paid" C-B asks "is it procompetitive to say people like to watch unpaid people playing sports?" Very unexpected from her!

Coney Barrett asks about the effect if NCAA loses. If we rule against you, what's the impact on Title IX. Waxman admits that schools still have to follow Title IX. (which is correct)

Then Waxman claims evidence in the case shows that schools would cut other sports, men and women. (I believe that is a false statement of the evidence in this case. The only evidence I know shows the money would come from coaches and facilities.)

Waxman summarizing his argument again. Dogs and Cats will live together. Focuses hard on Our Product is Wage-Fixed Sports.

Jeffrey Kessler up. He must be nervous b/c I think he said "lawful" when he meant "unlawful"

He is focused on the quick look vs. full rule of reason as his opening statement. Kessler list off all the past times the NCAA has claimed if they had to relax their cartel rules, college sports would die. Each time, the Courts struck the rule down, college sports did not die. "this is more of the same" Roberts interrupts. Roberts asks a question about whether it was wrong to look at a single rule or if the rules should be viewed in their totality. Likens it to Jenga, suggesting there might be a rule-by-rule approach that eventually leads to it all tumbling down. Kessler says the court didn't do that -- rather it started with ALL rules and then looked at the individual rules after. Roberts passes to Thomas. Thomas asks "what if consumers are shown to be fine with $20K, are we back in Court?" Kessler points to the "Patently and Inexplicably" language (in O’Bannon) and says incrementalism of that sort won't happen. Kessler explain that it was the NCAA that said the $5,980. Thomas asks a very knowledgeable sports question: "won't schools cherry pick athletes from the portal" Kessler explains the NCAA did not assert competitive balance b/c that argument was demolished prior to trial. he explains the Patriot league is not competing with the SEC. [This is true, the NCAA lost their competitive balance argument at summary judgment, meaning it was so weak it didn’t even earn the right to be trotted out at trial] Breyer up. Breyer says it is tough for him. he says it's only partly economic. he sounds VERY much to be in the White dissent camp. He lays out that it could be that the way of viewing the case aren’t really economics. Kessler explains the Society of Engineers case says antitrust is about economics. if you want to go outside of economics, that's Congress, not the court. He then pushes back to Breyer that this would change the sport. Alito tosses Kessler a softball: what is the distinction b/w P5 sports and pro sports. Kessler: The differentiation is that they are students. The educational payments.= may even help that Alito asks whether the NCAA can set *any* educational limits. Kessler says the injunction already does. Quotes Emmert saying it was a good thing. Alito: Is this case the outer limit, or do antitrust laws allow athletes to bargain for things like guaranteed scholarships? Kessler says if they have a restriction that prevents guaranteed scholarships, that might lose. But he emphasizes it would NOT mandate guarantees -- it's about market competition.

Sotomayor offers Kessler a chance to ask for a better injunction. He declines (I would have taken it, but maybe that's why I am tweeting and he's arguing in Court) Sotomayor asks: isn't the $5,980 just judicial price setting? Kessler answers the Court didn't pick that number. the NCAA did. Kagan up. Kagan offers Kessler the same chance to ask for more again. Kessler takes it this time, says We advocated for Conference competition. Essentially asks for the clean injunction. Kagan focuses on the amount. Kessler explains survey showing $10K was ok. Mentions $50K insurance Kagan follows up, asking whether $5,980 is too arbitrary. Kessler focused on the words of the injunction.

Gorsuch now comes back to his love of JV law. Mentions the "new product that otherwise would not exist" standard. He asks, about law (not facts). What makes a searching inquiry into the JV appropriate?

Kessler says, the easier standard IS the Rule of Reason.

Gorsuch begs Kessler to say the Monopsony power of the NCAA makes JV scrutiny important.

Kessler takes the bait, explains that unlike other JVs, there's no market test of whether the JV is picking a pro-comp. Points to FN7 of AmNeedle. Kavanaugh asks whether Kessler agrees athletes must be enrolled student in good standing. Then says we need to ask what the NEXT case would be. What is the end game for athlete litigation? Kavanaugh echoes Breyer saying he is concerned. Kessler focuses on antitrust. Says the end game is the NCAA to be subject to rule of reason. Says facts would have to change in the future but today they are no different than yesterday.

Coney Barrett up, suggests both courts were concerned about doing too much. She thinks the lower Courts were being tepid (my word). Given all of that, how is the injunction is a substantially less restrictive? Kessler says these are life-changing benefits, hence substantial.

Kessler summarizing now: He turns to the rule of reason issue again -- they failed to show their rules were reasonable under rule of reason and rule of reasonable provides ample latitude (using NCAA's favorite). Mentions there will be no parade of horribles, and other pro-Defendant rules

Now the gov't is up.

Elizabeth Prelogar is acting Solicitor General.

She is arguing about the Monopsony Power & Rule of reasons things Roberts says the rules changes may be moderate but the legal concepts were not. Should Courts micromanage joint ventures. Prelogar says the Rule of Reason is the proper deference for JVs. She also says step 3 of RoR is not for marginal changes. Thomas up. Thomas says -- won't any NCAA rule be a litigation-palooza? Prelogar leans into the PCJ the NCAA advances. I am not feeling the love for Solicitor Prelogar for being so into amateurism. However, she redeems herself in my book by explaining that Amateurism is not an antitrust good in an of itself. Rather, it needs to be tied to consumer demand. Thomas asks about the $10K... $20K.. etc. if the facts change, Prelogar says, then yes, we should re-examine. She explains if NCAA continues to restraint trade, it SHOULD be subject to more litigation. [THIS IS THE RIGHT ANSWER --- if you want people to stop suing you for price fixing, stop fixing prices!] Breyer up. Asks, don't some JVs have non-economic goals? Prelogar explains that SCOTUS has said many times that Socially beneficial goals is not "cognizable" (allowed as a reason) under antitrust laws. Unless Congress carves out NCAA, the Court needs to think about economics.

Alito asks what is the NCAA's differentiation. Prelogar says Bona Fide Students but then adds And Not Paid beyond Education. Obviously I don't love the second half.

Alito asks: Let's say fans don't like highly paid PRO athletes either... these are not pro-NCAA questions.

Sotomayor asks "how can we be sure we won't destroy college sports?"

Instead of going Andy Schwarz an explaining how labor markets set pay vis-a-vis consumer demand, Prelogar just says the injunction was very narrow. Sotomayor asks about the $5,980. Prelogar focuses on how the amount was based on the athletic awards that don't ruin college sports, so academic rules are ok.

Kagan asks whether the $5,980 is arbitrary. Prelogar says it's not a requirement to give this amount. it's an allowance not requirement. She also focuses on how the NCAA can define restriction to make it bona fide. Kagan: Could the court have gone further? Prelogar: yes,

Gorsuch on "light look" for JV's that create new products again. he says "that assumes a competitive market." But here NCAA has Monoposny, and that justifies stricter look. Gorsuch channels Rascher & Schwarz (2000) saying that if conference set rules, this would be different.

Prelogar also goes all Rascher & Schwarz (2000) saying that no one conference had market power. Gorsuch says the same. This is like they read our paper! Gorsuch even says fans could root for more amateur teams if that what they want.

Kavanaugh asks Prelogar whether these are just sham payments.

She explains the injunction allows NCAA prevention of scams.

I am still reveling that Gorsuch and Prelogar essentially parrotted the paper @daniel_rascher and I wrote back in 1999 and published in 2000.

Coney Barrett is up. She is asking about whether cross-market balancing is good or bad. Prelogar says this is a bad case to consider that major issue b/c no one briefed it. She is like Don't GO Here.

Prelogar summarizes that the NCAA is wrong to say their rules must be immune from analysis b/c it is amateur. Instead they must show that amateurism itself is procompetitive. (more Rascher & Schwarz language). Waxman up on rebuttal. Waxman: Monopony power does NOT change the NCAA's right to define their product and receive deference for that definition. Waxman directly addresses Breyer, who was clearly the most pro-NCAA in his rhetoric. "Net consumer demand IS NOT the test." (wow) The test is whether a business can define its product definition. [I think if this is true, "Unpaid-Labor Produced Sneakers" would be legal] "once it is determined that 'no-pay amateurism'" differentiates the NCAA, that basically means they can't be questioned on those rules.] Then he whines about lots of litigation.

---end of hearing---

Ok, well that was NOT at all what I expected. I think Waxman should be glad for Justice Breyer. I was pleasantly surprised by the Kagan-Gorsuch-Coney Barrett axis focusing on the Rascher-Schwarz hypothesis. here's the paper I was referencing: Rascher and Schwarz Neither Reasonable nor Necessary.pdf

If you'd asked me beforehand what the odds are of it being a hourlong /barf session of paeans to Amateurism, I would said even odds or higher. So I am still a little in shock at how differently it went.

0 notes

beanabouttown · 7 years

Note

do you have any super fluffy flinthamilton fic recs? its one of /those/ days

do i EVER (yes, yes i do)

super fuffy fic rec list down below! (since you said flinthamilton i have only included james/thomas fic, but let me know if you want some fluffy flinthamiltons fic and i can direct you towards some good stuff!)

Like a ghost. by LittleHouseMouse

It’s the first morning on the plantation after the reunion and Thomas Hamilton is awoken by a sound.

it’s short but sweet and im always here for fic about the first time james and thomas wake up together after the reunion

I Want To Take Care Of You by Magnetism_bind

James is ill and Thomas just wants to look after him.

post-reunion fluff! flashback to london-era fluff! this fic just makes me happy, and it’s got thomas reading to james, which is always a good thing

Moments by TheAssassinsGhost

“'I can’t believe the days turned into years. I hate to see the moments disappear…‘”

15,743 words, 4 chapters, one of my all-time favourites! various snap-shots into james and thomas’ life after leaving the plantation

Reorienting by Palebluedot

“Thomas grabs ahold of his holy apparition with both hands and keeps him there, draws him nearer. Let them hold each other until they both bruise, he thinks fiercely, for tenderness needn’t always step light. Love owes them kind wounds.”

this fucking fic - it’s one of those ‘oh god this is the best fic i’ve read in weeks’ fics. im going to rec a lot of audrey’s fics and they are all as good as this one

Too Fondly to be Fearful by Palebluedot

“A hint of youthful mischief blooms in Thomas’s crow’s-feet as he brushes their toes together beneath the bedcovers.

“Fancy a moment’s fresh air?”James grins.

Outside, the scent of the roses hangs heavy as perfume, mixes sweet with every breath of cool night breeze. Thomas settles next to him on the step, barefoot and smiling, his arm warm around James’s waist.”

james and thomas stargazing in the middle of the night, post-reunion. it’s fucking beautiful and i love it so much

Things That Grow by Palebluedot

“Weeding, pruning, watering – though the tasks seem never-ending, it’s pleasant, welcome labor, working at a gentle pace, James’s voice as constant as the sun on his back, the sweetness of the roses he tends.

~+~+~+~+~

Something of a companion piece to “Too Fondly to be Fearful,” but can easily be read separately.”

james reading to thomas! happy post-reunion fluff!

Pathos and Logos by Palebluedot

He should have been on his way ten lost minutes ago. With a sigh, with a parting kiss to the corner of Thomas’s mouth, James at last rises, and the sheets wind tight around his legs. The mattress dips behind him just as his feet brush the floor, and unseen fingers loosely encircle his wrist, keep him perched on the edge of the bed just long enough for a clinging shadow to press against his back, hold him fast about the waist.

“Stay a moment longer,” comes the sweet whisper in his ear.

happy London-era fluff - thomas trying to stop james leaving the bed. the first day this fic was posted i read it something like ten times

Tactile by Palebluedot

“When Thomas opens his eyes, they stare and stare and seem to shine. “I wondered often how this might look,” he murmurs, pushing an errant lock behind James’s ear, fingers tracing over the shell. He looks down at James, adoration writ plain across his face, warm as the candlelight, and this is all still so strange to James, so new.

~+~+~+~

Inspired by bean-about-townn’s post: “Imagine the first time Thomas sees James’ hair out of its ribbon” and a related conversation with blanketed_in_stars.”

okay basically i should just say at this point that audrey (@brightbluedot) is the queen of fluff

Homecoming by Palebluedot

“That smile grows, and Thomas shall never find the strength to disentangle himself now, so he holds on all the tighter – three months, three months stranded with only the memory of James’s face, God only knows how he survived. But no matter. Now that he’s home, Thomas intends nothing less than to reclaim each and every intimacy the sea stole from them.”

look. if you just ignore the fact that thomas is taken away to bethlem right after this, it’s the fluffiest fic you are ever going to read in your life.

…but if you read it with that in mind, then it will break your heart. so be warned!

Something Old by Palebluedot

““Do you remember the first time I brought you home for Christmas?”

“The only time, you mean.”

Thomas grins, eyes sparkling with a fondness James doesn’t recall that battlefield of a holiday deserving. “Fifteen years later, that’s still one of my favorite memories of you.””

modern au fluff after james and thomas get married!

Eye of the Beholder by Palebluedot

“Open your eyes for me, love,” Thomas reminds him, voice husky, and when he does, the first thing he sees is Thomas’s reflected grin, hungry as the gaze that caresses every inch of skin from James’s parted, panting lips down to his flushed and leaking cock. “Just look at you,” he sighs in James’s ear before he trails imprecise, open-mouthed kisses back down to James’s throat.

~~~

alternatively, that time bean was like “so what if they fucked in front of a mirror” and I was like “shit what if they DID”

i still maintain that this 100% happened at least once. (porn. really, really amazingly written porn. and so very fluffy)

A Stranger at his Door by theflowercrownedking

“Silver comes looking for Flint. Thomas answers the door.”

not one for fans of silver, and i fucking love it. thomas is clever, thomas isn’t expected to forgive silver for selling james into slavery and leaving them both in the plantation, and it ends with james and thomas snuggled up together in bed. what’s not to love? (i saw this fic just when i went to go through my bookmarks on ao3 to make this list, and im gonna be honest with you anon, i read it twice through before i could get back to putting together these recs)

Keeping him Safe by theflowercrownedking

“In which James manages to keep his werewolf nature a secret, right up until the moment he has a nightmare and shifts in Thomas’ arms.”

i mean there’s some angst when it changes to james’ pov, but thomas, as always, is a ray of sunshine who illuminates james’ tragic life and it’s beautiful

The Throes of Fever by theflowercrownedking

“In which James is feverishly sick, and convinced Thomas is an angel sent to care for him.”

…i went to try and find a quote to put here to show how wonderful this fic is, but. it was all so good i couldn’t pick a single thing, which means you will just have to take my word for it!

Cache of Gems: Tumblr Ficlets by AstronautSquid

“An ongoing collection of the occasional short scenes I write for tumblr.

Varying ratings, check the chapter title!”

second chapter is brilliant porn, but the first chapter is fluff and i love it so much - and only partly bc it’s a little bit my fault

i am absolutely happy to read fic of James just staring at the back of Thomas’ head for an hour. who isn’t??

kinky nsfw ficlet 1 by @complaininginthedark

Anonymous asked: for the kink thing - cockwarming, if youre into it? your writing is amazing btw

aaahhhhh thank you so much!!!! I’ve already played with the idea of cock warming for these two simply because I think James is a little touch starved most of the time and is easily overwhelmed and needs grounding a lot. So here is my take on it.

it’s so very fluffy and i love it

“I’ll keep you safe” by @complaininginthedark

bean-about-townn asked: ooh, 66 (“I’ll keep you safe”) for flinthamilton, which would. also be great for aftercare after the reunion (sorry im obsessed with the concept now. ur last fic was too good i can’t stop thinking about it)

aaaaaaaaah i prompted this and it’s still one of my favourite bits of writing in the fandom

Vulnerable by khazadspoon

James needed to feel the sharp sting of his hand, the bite of his teeth, the grip of ropes at his hands and feet.

And Thomas would do anything, anything, to give James peace. Even if that peace was brought through pain.

– Post series, Thomas takes care of James after a rough night. Aftercare and comfort because I love these two too much –

it’s so fluffy and beautiful and it’s one of my all time favourites. no explicit sex, though the implication is there

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! by NahaFlowers

It’s snowing outside and Thomas wants to go out and play in the snow, despite it being the dead of night. James’s protests are feeble at best - he can’t deny this man anything. Just cute fluff. Written for penflicks on Tumblr.

look. let’s be realistic. it doesn’t get much fluffier than thomas carrying james to bed

Till Death Us Do Part by Palebluedot

And there’s that ache, and there’s that sweetness, and lord, James really would swear in the eyes of God that he cannot bear to live without him, wouldn’t he?

~+~+~+~

Those whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder: a triptych.

james thinking about marriage in london, nassau, and after the reunion. the first and third parts are the fluffiest fluff ever to fluff, but the middle will break your heart in the best way

Something like Home by enthugger

Sober, James thinks that Thomas Hamilton is brilliant. He is safe and warm and his presence is a soft glow that brightens the ridged structure of James’ mind. Drunk, he believes that Thomas should own the goddamn world.

imagine me making a sound akin to the sound one makes when seeing a particularly adorable kitten, and you’ll get an accurate idea of my reaction to this fic

you are a constellation by ohCaptain (AngryPirateHusbands)

fluffy porn about thomas appreciating james’ freckles, absolutely lovely!

im sure there’s more but im tired now. i hope your day gets better soon anon!

#Anonymous #flinthamilton #james flint #thomas hamilton #black sails

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olmopress · 5 years

Text

Farticipatory culture!

week 7: Harry Jenkins, Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide, Introduction and Chapter 4

Shiiiit was reading Henry Jenkins boring. Oh my God. All those useless stories and that endless circumnavigation of issues. Man I understand you had to reach a certain wordcount to get someone to publish you but maaaaaaaaan I got so bored.

You are more than welcome to imagine that the stuff I liked about Mr. Jenkins is very little

BUT

I have to say we share a common interest in Star Wars. To honor that, I am unleashing the first FRANCHISE-THEMED post on this blog.

Yes kids! The visual content of this blog post will feature exclusively material from Star Wars!

If you like my idea you can contact me in private for donations. I would love to raise a little profit out of George Lucas’ copyrighted material because

SCREW HIM

So hit me up with your money, we shall use it to fund modern heroes fighting against the horrendous kebab imperialism of the Turkish fils de pute president.

OK here we go. Jerkin’ Mr. Jenkins has three concepts for us and

INCREDIBLY ENOUGH

none of them is particularly original. At times I fell almost like this guy is just a great affabulatore who probably got great grades in his college papers because he could babble for 2000 words without saying much of particular relevance.

BUT THIS IS JUST ME BEING NASTY

Sure.

Jenkins’ first and most important concept is that of convergence. We dumbasses who had to go through COM 220 in this university are already familiar with this word and associate it either with technological convergence or media ownership convergence. But just like that time in which the Buddha taught for 40 years straight just wake up one day and be

HOLD UP BRO IT WAS ALL A BIG EXPEDIENT TO PREPARE YOU FOR THE TRUTH OF THE

LOTUS SUTRA

Jenkins surprises us silly undergraduate with a sort of ULTIMATE MEANING of convergence. To him, convergence is neither solely about technology, nor solely about ownership. By convergence, he means

“the flow of content across ultiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behavior of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want” (2)

Just the kind of definition I need the weekend before a midterm. Thanks Harry. So what I gather from this is that the converge he is talking about is essentially about content, or I mean comunque about themes and instances orbiting around a certain kind of content. Right? I guess. And so Jenkins focuses on how these kinds of contents are reproduced by and sought on different media.

Much of the rest of his introduction is Jenkins bustling with his own confused concepts to gain a degree of clarity of this stuff on convergence. Which in a way is fun to watch in itself. Because first he traces the supposedly linear history of the development of the idea – by the way quoting (and fortunately criticizing that JERK of Negroponte who believed that “monolithic empires of mass media are dissolving into an array of cottage industries” – and then he embarks on a frankly boring and useless story about this New Orleans Media Experience of 2003 about which honestly nobody gives a shit and even which even more honestly is just boring. Did I say that already? Oh sorry.

BUT IT’S TRUE

This story is infused (as frankly the rest of the stuff I have read) with a disgusting romantic notion of corporate behavior and aims, as if big media companies just couldn’t go on without including their audiences because they LOVE THEM.

FUCK NO HARRY THEY JUST WANT THEIR MONEY AND THEY’LL DO EVERYTHING IT TAKES TO SQUEEZE AS MUCH OF IT AS POSSIBLE FROM THEIR OUR POCKETS AND YOU FUCKING KNOW IT GODDAMNIT YOU TEACH AT USC IT’S NOT LIKE YOU WERE BORN YESTERDAY

I’m sorry. You may have noticed I have slight tendency in losing my temper at

MANAGERIAL CAPITALIST PIGS

No I mean with people who see things differently from me. But let us go on. By the way there is a moment in which Jenkins, talking about the way in which corporations were dealing with the emergence of convergence (I rhymed!), writes:

“The old paradigms were breaking down faster than the new ones were emerging, producing panic among those most invested in the status quo and curiosity in those who saw change as an opportunity” (7)

You what this reminds me? Look it up here. This guy first wrote it. See that part about the monsters? Does it remind you of anything? Am I implying that media giants especially of the internet are giving us a new fascism? Did you know that Charlemagne most probably didn’t want to be crowned emperor by Pope Leo III?

Unless you’re a historian of the Middle Ages, one of the answers for those last two questions is “Yes.”

Btw you should know that I decided I was heterosexual when I was 3 and went to see Phantom Menace and got acquainted with the looks of this lady up here.

Anyway. Back to convergence. Jenkins goes on and on and on and on about this talking about the different lifespans of delivery technologies and media, about his self-defined Black Box Fallacy (because to him, and he honestly has a point, while hardware diverges, content converges), about the fact that convergence is a process and not an endpoint, and about all sorts of things

UNTIL

He basically says that convergence is a top-down process as much as it is a bottom-up one. And at this point, Harry, you kinda lost me. You have used so many different and contrasting ways of defining what is it that you’re trying to define that I do not know anymore if I am reading you or fucking Spinoza. And I AM SORRY, you ain’t as cool as my lad Baruch.

So yeah I was left pretty much like this:

I think we should stick to the explanation I gave in the beginning. let us move to a second concept, which will be hopefully easier to define.

I wanna talk about collective intelligence because Jerkings only suggests it. So let me do the explanation know.

Collective intelligence was at work fo instance on the Game of Thrones’ subreddit who higitus figidus cracked the secret behind Jon Snow’s lineage YEARS before the thing was revealed in the series. Like in those beautiful communist revolutions we don’t do anymore, commoners pooled their wits and skills to fuck over the greedy and ugly masters who enslaved them. This is collective intelligence: to unionize cognitive processes and screw capital ownership.

OK maybe this was a little bit too political but you get the point right? It’s about people pooling resources and working together to solve problems or propose stuff. It’s actually quite cool. And it happens all the time on the internet. Because it’s easier to pool those cognitive resources over there.

DONE!

Let’s move to the last one.

The third point in Jenkins’ reading was participatory culture. His endless spiel about Star Wars fandom was at times interesting and times suicide-inducing. Potentially cool as a case study, but we don’t really need it for the purposes of this post. So.

The stuff we need to know is contained in the first few pages of the chapter. First of all, Jenkins rightly notes that while fandom as always existed, the internet has tipped the scales because it makes fan culture more visible. Which is in itself quite OK.

youtube

aaaaand here’s a beautiful example of Star Wars’ participatory culture.

He then distinguishes between interactivity and participation. To him, interactivity refers only to the fact that people get more feedback when they consume cultural products. Participation, he says, is deeper because it is basically in the consumer’s (I hate this word) hands: it is “open-ended” and not constrained by the decision of the designers of the original/official products. The rest of the chapter deals in ways in which companies address fan-generated content. Funnily enough, he distinguishes between prohibitionists (tight-ass douchebags who don’t want you to mess with their precious product) and collaborationists (other douchebags who instead see the staff you do as yet one more opportunity to steal time and labor from you). Nice, huh?

The funniest thing is that he chooses COLLABORATIONISTS: I mean really? You really wanna make me do that association between capitalism and fascism again? It was your choice huh.

A good example that Jenkins makes is that of game modders, who manipulate the code of videogames to construct personalized fantasies that might expand the universe of the original game, or maybe even take it to a completely new direction. Here’s an example De’Noantri:

I guess I broke my rule about Star Wars. Too bad. But I am the one who calls te shots here. I’m your lider maximo here. This is a READ ONLY blog. You shut up and read, comrade!

To reach a conclusion, the whole story of how LucasArt deals with fandom content is surely fascinating, but Jenkins repeatedly fails to look at a very important issue. When George Lucas in ANY way makes use of content created by fans, most of the times directly appropriating the copyright for it, he is

EXPLOITING

those silly fans. Instance: when the devs of Star Wars Galaxies sought fan advice for developing the game, did these fans got paid? Where are their rights? Where is the compensation for the time and labor they offered? Nowhere. And so they have been exploited, allowing George Lucas to save money on people he would have had to pay for the same services. But he had the fans he wanted to iNcLuDe…

I mean you really thought I was not going to use this?

So the conclusion is:

FANS OF ALL NATIONS, UNIONIZE!

CLAIM YOUR SHARE OF PROFIT!

DEMAND COLLECTIVIZATION OF FRANCHISES!

DEMAND LIBERALIZATION OF FAN FICTION!

DEMAND THE FUTURE!

Here you can see a visual depiction of the fandom working class rising up against bourgeoise privilege.

Since I already broke the rule, culture time will be free this week too. This is a great Russian composer who certainly influenced Williams when composing Star Wars’ music. It is one of my favorites pieces of music ever so ENJOY!

youtube

Here instead you can see Caravaggio depicting me making it barely alive out of this week’s readings:

It happens every now and then. Let’s hope next it’ll be better.

auf Wiedersehen!

Image Sources: GIPHY.com, squillace.org, wikiart.org

0 notes

smiles4voltron · 7 years

Note

Okay so I love both of your sentence prompt examples a lot? If you were to write stuff for those, I definitely wouldn't complain. If not, here's an angsty sentence prompt for you; "Lance?!" Keith shouted into the coms, as he stared down at the wrecked form of the Blue Lion. There was no reply, just static echoing in his ears. Gotta have that Klance Content™ (I love your blog btw)

Ahh, what the heck me??? I’ve had this in my draft box for days!! And then I looked at my draft box and was like - what the hell is this?? And BAAAM! IT WAS ANGST FLUFF KLANCE STUFF! XD

Anyway, thank you so much- I’ll definitely do those prompts too when I have the chance! :D For now, here is the prompt you requested. I usually make these prompts kind of short but I just kept writing and writing with this one. 0.0 I was a really good prompt suggestion.

SO HERE YOU GO!

“Lance?!” Keith shouted into the coms, as he stared down at the wrecked form of the Blue Lion. There was no reply, just static echoing in his ears

When the side of the blue lion had erupted from the blast there had been a scream.

No one could tell who it was from- Lance, Allura, the team, or perhaps Keith. Maybe all of them had screamed out at the horrifying scene before them.

The side of the haul was imploding, catching fire within the cold grips of space.

It had happened so fast.

Missiles, lasers, and then the Galra ship fired its main cannon.

The blast had aimed for Voltron’s red paladin, dead set on its course until a certain blue pilot intercepted it by throwing himself between the two.

“Lance!”

Static continued to echo through their comms, seemingly growing louder with each passing second.

The blue lion had tilted sideways, floating aimlessly as the flames began to choke out with no oxygen to cling to.

The great machine didn’t stir, the power cells shot from within.

“Lance! Lance!” Keith shot towards him, circling Blue once before hovering near its face. He couldn’t see within through the windows- he couldn’t see the Lion’s blue pilot inside.

He couldn’t see Lance.

Why did he do that?! Why didn’t he stay out of the way!!?

Now he…

With sweaty palms gripping his controls, he pants- his chest is tightening, twisting inside him horribly. No. No no. this wasn’t happening.

Not to Lance.

He was too young to die. Too young, and gentle, and perfect- he didn’t deserve anything like this!

“LANCE!” Keith wailed

Crackling sounds in his ear and then a weak voice, “…Stop yelling… You’re giving me a headache.”

Keith sobs something along the cruel lines of a laugh- raw and broken, “Lance! Oh god, Lance.”

“M’here, Keith,” he slurs weakly. “My Lion isn’t working- augh!” he grunts in pain. His voice is too low and gravely to sound like his own. The strain on it is enough for Keith to inch his lion a little closer, careful not to just wildly pump into the other.

“Are you hurt??” Allura calls from her end.

A few heavy breaths, ‘Can’t… move…”

“We gotta get his lion back to the castle,” Pidge yelled.

“We’ll have to pull it. Hunk, you get Lance, we’ll watch your back!!” Shiro commanded.

“Got it!” Hunk shot forward. His lion’s jaw opened, gripping the paw of Blue as gently as the lions could manage with their power, and pulled it back towards the Castle. Keith hovered close by, yelling and firing at anything that dares get close.

With Red’s bare jaw he tore a small Galra fighter to pieces.

The Castle was already firing against the mother ship with everything it had- a constant assault until the haul of the ship imploded in on itself and the ship went dark.

“Paladins!” Allura called to them through their comms, “Lance is aboard! We’re leaving!”

Not a single one of them argued, shooting back to the ship and into a wormhole.

Keith was sprinting the second he landed.

Out of his lion, down the hall, pushing himself to run faster and faster- his legs pulsed painfully at the strain.

His chest heaved, heart pumping so fast that he thought he might fall over.

Lance. Lance!

Running feet barely registered in his ears before he realized the others were right behind him. The sight of blue collapsed on its side was ghastly, but made it easier to get within since the entrance to the cockpit was closer to the ground.

“Lance?!”

Keith’s breath caught in his throat.

No one was prepared for the sheer damage within, both to the Lion and the pilot slouched in his seat.

A feeling of panic, both suffocating and burning, holds Keith close. It’s firing his sense from his head to his toes. He struggles to talk, and managed to croak out a name, his voice faltering at the end, “Lance,” shifting to the seat, he drops to a knee in front of it.

Blue eyes open and trail to him slowly. Their gazes lock and nothing can startle Keith more than when the blue paladin smiles, “Hey, Babe.” he gasps through labored breath.

Scrapes, bruises, cuts- they covered his body. Nothing they weren’t used to. Nothing they couldn’t just walk off.

Impalement was different.

It was clear cut, forcing straight through Lance’s armor at an odd angle to his chest and upper right shoulder.

The object, a pole like structure that supported the interior of the lion, had been torn off of its designated location. Within the explosion, it must have fired out- delving deep into the paladin and pinning him to his chair.

“Oh my god…” Pidge covered her mouth and stepped back.

“S-Shiro?’ Hunk squeaked desperately. “How do we- he is-” He sounds hysteric, shaking his head back and forth in disbelief.

“Hunk- stay calm.”

“STAY CALM!?”

“Buddy,” Lance hushes him, “It’s okay…”

“It is not!’ Hunk bawls, “You have a pole in your chest! In your chest!” he cuts himself off to ask, “C-Can you breath okay? Did it puncture anything?? O-Oh god… Did it hit your h-heart??”

“He would be dead already if it hit his heart,” Allura says swiftly, stepping around Hunk to access the damage. “We need to get you to a cryo pod immediately,”

“How?” Pidge whispers hoarsely, “It goes right through him and into the chair,”

“If we move him too much it will make it worse,” Shiro adds, “And if we just pull it out…” he doesn’t seem to want to even consider such a thing, “The damage could be just as bad.”

“Well, we can’t just leave it in him,” Pidge waved her hands around rapidly, “We have to pull it out. O-Or do some procedure. What is the normal procedure to take out something that has impaled you??”

“Keep it still till paramedics arrive and don’t remove it. You’ll bleed out if you do,” Hunk quotes, recalling the first-aid class he took a few years back.

“There are no trained professionals coming!” Pidge yelled, “What are we supposed to do!?”

“Both of you calm yourselves!” Allura snapped at them. In their panic, they bickered and screamed. It was hard to say what the right call here was.

“Hey…” Lance whispered to the red Paladin kneeling by his legs. The team’s voices began to fade out, becoming nothing more than white noise. Dark eyes were staring at him, transfixed on nothing more than him.

Keith was frozen. He couldn’t breath. He couldn’t speak. His body refused to listen when he commanded it to move. “…” he sucked in hard, broken and terrified.

Lance’s fingers twitched, eyes watching the movement carefully, “Keith…” The tight pain in his chest was making it difficult to breath, and when he did, he felt the rise of his chest shift the pole ever so slightly. It hurt.

It hurt so much.

He did not cry from it. He did not voice his discomfort.

Once Keith came into view, it didn’t matter.

“Hey,” he tries again, slowly moving his left arm. Not requiring to move his shoulder in any straining manner with Keith kneeling next to his chair, his hand slowly lifted.

It took time, the process slow and arduous, but eventually his fingers grazed his boyfriend’s cheek. Thumb brushing below Keith’s eyes, he wiped away a peaking tear.

A sob broke from the red paladin’s mouth. His lower lip trembled and he leaned into Lance’s hand, kissing his palm feverishly.

That same morning, Lance had told Keith he loved him just like he had every morning before.

Keith had said it back, smiling bright and warm.

He had held Lance close in his arms, quietly vowing to the galaxy that he would love and protect this wonderful Cuban boy for the rest of his days.

Where was that vow now?

Empty words lost to the stars.

“Why?” Keith suddenly screamed, “Why?!” Startling the others enough to cut them off, Keith choked back tears. It wasn’t working- they were coming fast and staining his reddening cheeks, “Why did you get in the way!? Why did you do that!?”

“Keith-” Allura turns to scold him for snapping at Lance in his state, but Lance cuts her off.

“I just… reacted,” he says softly. His lips looked like they were turning blue from how little oxygen his body was receiving. One of his lungs… had they been punctured perhaps? “I couldn’t let it hit you,”

“You should have,” Keith hissed. There was no bite in his tone- just splintered remorse.

“Never,” his fingers slipped to the back of Keith’s neck and fisted his air. The pure devotion and acceptance Lance held in his eyes for his actions had Keith’s spiraling to tears again.

“You shouldn’t have… You shouldn’t-” he slouched forward, burying his face into Lance’s knee. Lance opened and closed his fingers in his messy hair to comfort him.

Someone clears their throat and Coran steps forward. “We are pressed for time,” he says cautiously, eyes wavering with a torn expression. “We can’t get Lance to a pod if we cannot get him out of his chair,” he continues. Dread filled the silence. “We must remove this if we wish to help him,”

“Just… pull it out?” Pidge whispered in horror.

“I am afraid so,”

“Pull it out?!” Keith’s head snapped up to attention. The glare was piercing, red shot with tears and fury.

“Won’t that cause more damage?” Shiro demanded.

“Indeed,” Coran’s shoulders slouch, “We have no other choice. We can cut away as much as we can from one end to make the process quicker, but at the end of it- we need to pull it out.”

“And then what? Just rush him over to the pod as fast as we can before he dies of blood loss?!” Hunk roars. He hadn’t expected Coran to nod and stepped back in distress.

The red paladin was on the edge of murderous rage, “Are you out of your mind?!”

“Keith…” Lance’s hand, steadying and gentle, gripped his wrist, “He’s right,”

“Lance-!” he turns to argue and is cut off with a splintering smile.

“Things are getting dark, Keith…” their blue paladin admits weakly, “If we don’t do this soon I don’t think- I’m struggling to stay awake here, Babe,” he laughs for some reason- like all of this is almost humorous in some sick way. Keith wondered if it was just some means to help his mentality push through this. “We need to do this,”

Keith’s knees buckle and he falls back to the floor. Face contorting from anger, to remorse and finally some pitiful acceptance, he nods. “O…Okay.”

“That’s my hothead,” When Lance nod to the others, Shiro approaches the back of the chair. The pole stuck out a great distance from behind it. Definitely not willing to pull the entire scale of it from Lance’s chest, Shiro’s hand began to glow.

Aimlessly able to see the luminescent purple from the walls, Lance held his breath. “One.” Shiro says, “Two… Three!” he slices down hard and fast, similar to a katana blade. The end of the pole is slice away effortlessly, falling to the floor with a crack as the blue paladin winces- feeling the pole shift if only a little.

“O-One part down…” he struggles to sound playful. “Keith,” Lance waved his finger a little, motioning for him to come closer. Keith scrambled upward, pressing himself to the side of the chair.

“What?” he inquired gently. Lance opened and closed his palm with a silent request. Keith intertwined their fingers, “I got you,”

“If you all wouldn’t mind… I’d like to kiss my boyfriend before we start this,”

Everyone shared a look, nodding solemnly.

While normally Pidge and the others rolled their eyes at the complete puppy love the two would share at times, no one would even think of denying them this. So they turned and lowered their gazes.

“Lance,” Keith leaned over the chair. His gaze wavered, his shoulders tense and hands shaking.

“Kiss me,” Lance whispered the plea for his ears only.

Keith cupped his face and kissed him. Bruising, raw, the taste of iron and sweat.

Lance suckled on Keith’s bottom lip hard, giving it a loving nibble- one of his favorite things to do when they kissed. Pulling away for only a second, Lance pulled him back to soften the touch of their lips, making the kiss gentle.

Keith knew he wouldn’t say it, but he could feel it in the tremble of his lips- the strain in his smile, and the hard grip of his fingers around his hand.

Lance was petrified. Both of what was to come and the possibility of death- the chance that this might just be the last kiss they ever share.

Keith held it out as long as he could. Ugly, beautiful and wet- their tears mixing on their cheeks. He pulled away noting how Lance seemed hesitant.

But he smiled.

He was so beautiful, so wonderful- everything Keith had never thought he would be blessed with.

“Don’t leave me,” he whispered so quietly he wondered if Lance had even caught that. When he nodded, he knew he did.

“I don’t plan to,” he says after a long pause. “Let’s get this party started.”

What more could they say other than nod?

The obvious choice to remove the pole was Shiro, given his robotic arm would hold steadier than anyone else’s.

When he stepped in front of Lance, he paused from reaching up for the pole. Catching Lance’s gaze, he waited for him to nod before he slides his fingers against the metal. Similar to the first time, he counted a warning, “One…”

“T-Two….” Keith stammered, holding Lance’s hand tight.

“Three!”

Lance screamed and blood bubbled from his chest.

They had expected this, but none of them were prepared for it. Not really.

Shiro’s hand had almost slipped, his grip staggering for a few panicked moments before it tightened again. “I-I’m sorry,” he pleaded with Lance, continuing the process. He wanted to be done with it- to rip it out like one would tear off a band-aid, but the pull of muscles and flesh made it difficult.

Lance wailed and clung to Keith’s head and the side of his chair to hold himself still. Allura was behind him, arms around the chair and on his shoulders to hold him steady.

The pain was excruciating, inflaming each of Lance’s nerves and making his legs twitch and shake against his will.

Keith was babbling into his ear, “A-Almost done. Almost done, Lance. You are doing to so good- I’m here. I’m right here, stay with me. I got you,” he had never felt so horrible. His entire body burned, pulling apart his heart.

The squelch of the pole popping out of Lance’s chest was the only sign that it was over and Lance fell back. He was struggling to keep consciousness, his head lulling to the side, gasping quietly.

The blood was coming fast- faster than Allura and Coran had originally anticipated. It pooled at his chest until the overflow dripped down Lance’s legs to the floor. “Get him to a pod!” she snapped to the others to pull them from their shocked dazes.

Hunk didn’t hesitate to gather Lance into his arms. He would be more comfortable there than in anyone else’s, so despite Keith wanting nothing more than to cradle him, he stepped back and let Hunk do his thing.

They ran.

Down the hall, into the elevator, up to the medical bay.

Keith honestly couldn’t remember most of what happened other than the fact that he waited. For hours, each second crawled by at an agonizingly slow pace. Once that pod closed all they could do was hope and pray things would be okay.

That they made it in time.

Within a few hours, Allura approached the huddle of paladin’s at the foot of Lance’s pod. They stood at her presences, each breath held tightly in their chests. “Allura?’ Shiro inquired cautiously.

She sighed, liked a great woe was being lifted, and smiled, “He’s going to survive.”

Keith’s knees buckled, and Shiro caught him. “He’s going to be okay,” his brother figure smiled into his hair, “He’s going to live, Keith,”

Keith heard. Of course, he heard.

He was crying.

Pidge had collapsed behind them, and Hunk knelt down to her, burying her head into his chest. She sobbed, laughing and cheering. “Can we just keep him in the castle please??” she begged desperately, “He’s in this pod way too often,”

“We’ll just get him an indestructible body shield that activates the moment a threat is detected,” Hunk concludes.

“I want to start making it right now,” Pidge sniffles. Keith thought they were joking, but they got to their feet and hobbled out of the room. Honestly, Lance needed it. When Lance woke up, he’d get them whatever supplies they needed to assure that shield was a reality in the near future.

“You okay?” Shiro inquired gently.

“Yeah… maybe,” Keith shakes his head. If he knew that dating the team’s blue paladin would put such a strain on his heart, he might have reconsidered asking him out.

That was a lie.

He would never take that back- not even with a million heartbreaks. Lance was just worth it too much.

“It isn’t your fault,” Shiro says suddenly.

‘It’s the Galra’s… It’s Zarkon’s,” Keith agrees. “I’m okay, Shiro. I’m just tired…”

Their leader nodded solemnly, “You should go get some sleep.”

‘No… I’m going to stay here for a little while longer,” his gaze trailed to the pod. Shiro nodded in understanding and got to his feet.

‘I’ll bring you a pillow and a blanket,”

‘Thanks.”

He didn’t move for two days. The others would bring Keith food, his change his clothes, but they never tried to move him. Not after everything that had just happened.

All of them had been so shaken that Allura had agreed to take a small break within a cluster of some quiet planets, away from Zarkon’s fleet. They would rest there for a few days to collect themselves and refocus- after Lance awoke of course.

Keith sometimes feared in the middle of the night that Lance would never wake up. That somehow something would go wrong and he would just stop breathing or fall into some unawaking coma.

All these fears subsided when there was a beep from the pod.

Like a microwave informing you that the popcorn was ready, the pod opened, and their blue Paladin stumbled out. Barely awake to catch himself, he tumbled into Keith’s awaiting arms. The others were not present, all unaware that Lance was awake except for Keith.

Grateful to be the first one to see him, Keith clung to him, rolling them over to gently lay Lance across the floor and examine his chest.

They had rushed in getting the suit on- staining it with blood when they hastily threw it over the blue paladin’s body.

With rough fingers, he prodded at the spot the wound had last been- relieved to feel nothing by smooth and intact flesh. “Lance,”

“Hey beautiful,” He smiles. Keith doesn’t try to stop the broken laugh- the welling tears.

He just kisses Lance.

He held him close and refused to let go until Lance was tapping his arm- tapping out for a second to breath. Separating, the blue paladin was gasping a little, cheeks flaming and head spinning.

“W-Well- that isn’t the worse way to wake up,” he cooed affectionately. “You should do that more often,”

“You should stop getting blasted,”

“I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Lance admits.

“Don’t you dare,” Keith yelled through tears, “You ever do that again and I’ll kill you myself,”

“Noted,”

Keith pressed his hands to Lance’s face, cupping it. Squeezing them till Lance whined at the pain, he pulls back, “You’re alive,” he confirms, steadying himself.

Lance nods, “I’m alive. I’m sorry,” his expression grows soft, “I never meant to… If it wasn’t for the pole this all would have blown over a lot easier,” he sighs.

“I still would have been pissed you did that,”

“You would have done it for me. We all would have done the same thing if the others were close enough.” Lance’s hands reach up to entangle in Keith’s mullet. It was one of his favorite things about his boyfriend if he had, to be honest.

“I know,” Keith glances around, “We should go tell the others you are up,” he holds out his hand to help lance to his feet. Lance only intertwines their fingers, brushing his thumb to Keith’s sensually.

“I think I need a few more kisses to get up,”

“Lance,”

He replies by puckering his lips and batting his eyes. Keith gives in- he always does when it comes to Lance.

Several minutes into their makeout session, Pidge entered with a disgusted groan, “Can you two lovebirds go at least 5 seconds without doing this?! At least tell us you are out Lance!” she says irritably, though she is grinning ear to ear.

He grins and waves at her, “Hey, Pidge-a-roo. Fancy meeting you here,”

‘I”m going to punch you for how dumb you are,” she is running towards him with her small fist held high.

“Not the tiny fist of doom!” he wailed, “Hunk save me!”

Hunk is barreling in a second later, tears shooting from his eyes, “LANCE!!!”

Needless to say, the day ended with everyone rushing to the medical bay to swarm Lance with relieved hugs, playful hits on the shoulder, and fond ruffles to his hair.

The wound had left a strange circular scar to Lance’s chest. Keith often ran his finger over it without a word, and Lance would always kiss him to make him look away.

It would fade with time, and until then, it was Lance’s proof that he had survived. That he was alive and loved his team more than life itself.

It was his own little death defying mark.

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theofficepolitics · 5 years

Text

How Corporations Manipulate Employees

https://thepowermoves.com/corporate-lies/

This Is How Companies Manipulate Employees (W/ Examples)

Corporations lie and manipulate.

HR lies and manipulates.

And your boss lies and manipulate.

But The Power Moves is on your side. And this article blows the whistle on corporate manipulation, HR lies and bosses’ machinations.

Contents [show]

#1. Employees Matter

This is the most common and most pervasive corporate lie.

There is no HR department in the world that wouldn’t tell you that employees matter. But that doesn’t make it any truer.

Why It’s a Corporate Lie

It’s not employees who matter, it’s the output of the employees that matters (Dan Rust, 2016). Big difference.

Remove the output and the employee becomes a cost. And then you will see how much you really “matter”.

There almost seems a connection between how menial a job is and how much hot air HR spouts about “talent” and “employees’ satisfaction”.

As a student, I had a brief stint in Infosys BPO, and if there is such a thing as “monkey job”, that’s BPO (BPO stands for “business process outsourcing”). And I have never heard as much crap about employees’ talent and skills since my BPO monkey days.

The funniest thing though? The number of people who actually believed the HR lies.

Corporate Manipulation Explained

We all have in-built mechanisms for “social accounting” (law of social exchange) and for reciprocation (Cialdini, 1984).

If the company can make us feel like they care for us, then we must reciprocate to rebalance the account.

And just like that, with a few empty slogans and some discount vouchers, companies turn 9 to 5 captives into happy and loyal corporate flunkies.

The Example: Ray Kroc & McDonald

Ray Krok famously said that your business is only as good as the people you hire. Which, on average, makes sense. Yet, coming from Kroc, it’s the perfect example of how manipulative corporations really are.

This also taken from McDonald’s mission and values:

We provide opportunity, nurture talent, develop leaders and reward achievement.

Of course, facts tell a very different story. McDonald lost countless lawsuits for wage theft and university researches prove that fast food workers earn so little that many of them depend on government welfare to survive (which is the equivalent of saying that taxpayers are subsidizing McDonald’s labor).

There is one McDonald initiative that deserves a special note though. I think the guys at corporate McDonald wanted to take the above Kroc’s quote literally. But instead of elevating their hires to the high-quality company they wanted, they lowered McDonald’s communication to the low wages they offer. And in a colossal brain fart, they offered the following tips to help their minimum wage employees make ends meet:

Return unopened purchases

Break food into pieces to feel fuller

Quit complaining or you only raise your stress hormones’ levels

What a great employer: first gives you a job and then teaches you how to survive with it.

#2. We’re A Team

This is so pervasive that most people even fail to see its manipulative side.

After all, teamwork is important for the success of corporations and individuals alike. But there is a trade-off between the two.

And those who can see the dual nature of the teamwork best position themselves to win the career contest.

Why It’s a Corporate Lie

Albeit there are many good reasons to be team players, there are also many good reasons to be selfish (for more on “public good games” read Thaler, 2015).

But you can’t do well socially by being openly selfish, and that’s why many people fail to realize the deeper truth of the “we’re a team manipulation”.

This is the complete description of team-work for the more astute Machiavellian player:

We’re a team… Of selfish individuals who must hide their selfish drives with teamwork appearances

The most successful political operators indeed play a bit for the team, pretend to play a lot for the team… And they mostly maximize their own interest.

And look at this quote to see that’s not even morally objectionable:

Here is the caveat: the “organizational objective” are, of course, Andrew Carnegie’s objective. And the same is true for every business owner.

When Team Culture Masks Abuse

When the “team culture” is taken to the extreme it can be used as justification to abuse the individual.

The miners complain about dangerous working conditions? It’s not good for the whole Rio Tinto, fire them. The unionists complain of wages too low to live? Not good for Carnegie’s steel company, hire the goons to break the strike.

Ray Dalio also takes an extreme “team first” position in his acclaimed “Principles“, where he basically says that:

What’s good for the whole is good –Ray Dalio

Yet here is the caveat: Ray Dalio is the owner of that whole, which makes him a slightly biased source.

Owners are inherently biased towards the whole because they own the whole.

And what’s good for the whole is not necessarily good for you. As a matter of fact, this “team first” value could easily justify cruelty and abuse towards the individuals (ie.: this class of citizen is bad for the whole: eliminate them).

Here is the same law re-written from a more cynical point of view:

What’s good for the whole is good for the owner –The Power Moves

Corporate Manipulation Explained

Group selection is controversial in evolutionary psychology (Pinker, 2012) but, from an organizational point of view, it’s fair to assume that groups with selfless individuals outperform groups where individuals pursue more selfish strategies (Sloan, 2007).

And that’s exactly what organizations angle for when they impose team values.

The manipulation of the teamwork value is to remove the selfish incentives which might be good for the individual but which are bad for the company.

Organizations with 100% selfless individuals increase the organization’s overall returns. The whole -and the owner- wins, but it’s all to be seen whether or not the individual also benefits from a selfless strategy.

The question then becomes whether the corporation will be nice enough to return the favor and share the spoils. But often, it’s a very small trickle.

Example: Howard Schulz & Starbucks

My favorite example of the team manipulation is Howard Schulz, founder of Starbucks and author of “Onward“.

In “Onward” Schulz makes a big show of loving his people.

Schulz was in so much pain for having to fire his beloved staffers. You know, for Howard they were family.

Yet, he did do fire a whole bunch of them. And then did it again.

#3. We’re A Dream Team

In the overzealous efforts of celebrating victories and hiding defeats management loves to gush how great the team has done.

And people love it too: everyone wants to be a dream player part of a dream team.

Why It’s a Corporate Lie

The “we’re so great” corporate BS is common. Yet dream teams are, by definition, a minority.

Simple math then tells us that most execs are lying with the “great team talk”.

But why would you listen to condescending execs? Here is a quick litmus test:

It’s only a dream team if everyone’s on a dream salary

If you are at around market salary, then you’re a pawn (or, at least, HR used manipulative negotiation techniques for your salary).

Corporate Manipulation Explained

Research has proven that attribution is a highly effective technique to improve performance (Miller, 1975).

That means that people tend to rise to the level of expectations, so so it pays off for the owners to build people up (also read Carnegie’s classic “How to Win Friends and Influence People“).

The Example: Pixar & Ed Catmull

Ed Catmull is the former CEO of Pixar and author of Creativity Inc.

Catmull prided himself on having institutionalized creativity. His job, he said, was to hire the best talent and remove the barriers to creativity.

I quote him:

What is the point of hiring smart people if you don’t empower them to fix what’s broken?

Probably Catmull didn’t think his employees’ salary needed any fixing and he took it upon himself to ensure their wages stayed below market value.

Catmull insists he did it for the “long term good of the company”. What a real leader!

Jesse: This isn’t a family! This is a prison! You’re a liar and a bully!

Jesse in Toy Story 3 might have as well addressed his creators’ CEO.

#4. We’re A Family

This is the advanced manipulation level of “we’re a team” and you can see it more often in early-stage startups.

Shared values, field trips, drinking together and, of course, “changing the world together”.

Part of the “we’re a family manipulation” include:

Using inclusive names for low-level employees (ie.: “partners” for baristas in Starbucks and “associates” for Walmart)

Management’s big show of openness (ie.: open door policies)

Informal attires and titles (“ninja”, “hacker”, “customer happiness”)

BTW, about the latter, if you want to test start-up open-mindedness, try to go to work with a suit and see what happens.

Why It’s a Corporate Lie

You can change titles, clothes or keep your door open, but the fundamentals dynamics of power don’t change. And the power dynamics in companies have nothing in common with families.

One above all: bosses fire employees. Families don’t fire family members.

Corporate Manipulation Explained

The manipulation here arches back to evolutionary psychology: we are all hardwired to break our backs for our families (Robert Wright, 1994).

And that’s what corporations are trying to do: entice in their (disposable) employees the same level of belonging that they have for their families.

Of course, the biggest beneficiaries of this games are owners, CEOs and company leaders. As a rule of thumb, the higher the manager, the bigger his incentive to play the family card (and the more likely it is that it’s all a big lie).

Example: Peter Thiel & Mafia

It’s probably not a coincidence that the mafia calls itself “la famiglia” in an effort to evoke a superior sense of belonging from its members.

And, somewhat misguidedly, Peter Thiel in “Zero to One” recommends founders to seek a culture that resembles a cult or a mafia.

Remember this: when an owner says the organization comes first, they are telling you that you are expendable.

So watch out for those “family” talk because family-first organizations require lots of sacrificial lambs on the altar of profit.

#5. We Wanna Change The World

In the era of “Start With WHY” nobody is out to win and succeed. Nobody wants the limelight because of their narcissistic tendencies.

And God forbid if any entrepreneur wants to make money.

No, today everyone wants to change the world or, in millennia’s parlance, “want to make an impact”.

Why It’s a Corporate Lie

This is so widespread today that it’s either we all turned into transcendental creatures… Or someone is lying.

Tai Lopez, for example, wants to help people (and not finance his fetish for sportscars). And even Elizabeth Holmes, the fraudster CEO of Theranos, said that it’s not about the money but the vision.

Corporate Manipulation Explained

Solid psychology research tells us that intrinsic motivators like higher goals and ideals can drive people more powerfully than extrinsic motivators such as money and benefits (Daniel Pink, 2011).

That’s great news for employers, who are now all busy concocting grand visions to help the world.

It seems to work especially well millennials, a generation packed with well-meaning simpletons who seek to “make a positive impact” (what does that even mean?).

What a win-win! Stephen Covey would be proud. The employers win. And the manipulated employees feel like they’ve won.

The Example: Bill Gates & Microsoft

Bill Gates vision was that of a “PC in every desk and in every home” to make the world more productive.

And today Bill Gates cures diseases to make the world a better place with his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

I am grateful for Gates’ work, but it’s rare that you will meet any dominant business leader who’s not ruthless and cunning. And Gates is no exception.

Several memoirs of business leaders who competed against Microsoft (like Ben Horowitz) show how Bill Gates went out of his way to squash his competitors. And he certainly fell out of the law when he settled for Microsoft’s abuse of monopoly power.

And, like pretty much all corporations, he does his best to avoid taxes:

If someone’s gonna cure malaria, Gates wants to make sure it’s him and not the government.

#6. “It’s Not About Me, The Owner”

“It’s about you, guys”.

You will see the self-effacing manipulation with very charismatic or very powerful founders who tend to hog all the attention.

What they do then is to play the self-effacing game to avoid being branded like the power-hungry and narcissist individuals they probably are.

There are two types of self-effacing manipulation:

“it’s not about me, it’s about the vision”

“it’s not about me, it’s about the people”

Why It’s a CEO Lie

People who become CEOs and work all the time are usually highly driven to succeed, win and dominate.

Sure, some of them also have a vision which includes others, but it all starts with the self.

Elizabeth Holmes, our example of self-effacing business leader, wrote at 9 years old she wanted to discover “something that mankind didn’t think it was possible to do”. That’s not the behavioral cue of modesty. That’s the cue of unbridled personal ambition.

Corporate Manipulation Explained

The self-effacing manipulator aims at becoming a transcendental type of leader.

Indeed the archetypes of the self-effacing leaders are often found in pro-social religions. Jesus Christ was a self-effacing leader who not only sought no (apparent) credit but literally carried the cross for all his disciples.

How can we not love the leaders that do it all for us? They almost seem to good to be true.

Well, turns out, some are too good to be true!

Similar self-effacing figures in popular folklore are Robin Hood, Don Quixote and Che Guevara who, on paper, fought for the people.

Example: Theranos & Elizabeth Holmes

Listen to how Holmes self-effaces:

Elizabeth Holmes: We have a belief system that it is not about us or about technology but about giving people a basic right

Little later people found out that Holmes defrauded not only investors and partners, but also the patients whom she so touchingly wanted to help.

If you have read “Bad Blood“, then you know that Holmes was possibly a sociopath or psychopath. Yet the deeper question here is: is she an exception or is she just the most blatant example?

#7. We Care About The Environment

In this day and age, it’s not about the shareholders anymore. It’s all about stakeholders and society at large.

Here are the stakeholders:

Employees

Customers

Society

Environment

The last one is particularly popular today. Even fossil fuel companies joined the (green) party:

Corporate Manipulation Explained

Companies care about profits. And since these days showing an environment-friendly facade helps to sell well, companies have adapted.

Needless to say, that facade is often more marketing than facts.

As this European Commission study shows, 60% of shoppers prefer to buy environment-friendly products, but corporate information is so misleading that, I quote:

European consumers are not able to make an informed choice (of what’s real or fake environment-friendly).

Where Is The Manipulation

Same as consumers, employees want to feel like they are good and caring human beings. Cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957) then dictates that working for unethical companies would make them feel bad.

So companies feed employees just what they want to hear (ie.: the goody-good ethical hypocrisy).

Example: Phil Knight & Nike

Phil Knight in his memoirs “Shoe Dog” says that he rented sweatshops “just like any other business did”.

And then he adds that they went after him because Nike provided a better target. Which is the equivalent of saying:

Everyone was a POS so I thought it was OK to be a POS and now everyone is on my case becuase I’m famous

Knight is a bit reminiscent of “I was just following orders” there.

In “Shoe Dog” Phil Knight also prided himself of treating his sponsor athletes “like real people” and not as a conduit to earn more. Nice! We could have only wished he gave the same respect to the kids in the sweatshops.

#8. We Are Driven By Values

Every single company today lists values and beliefs. And they always sound so good and inspiring, don’t they?

Why It’s a Corporate Lie

An organization is an inanimate construct, it has no values in and on itself.

The values you read are either the ones that the founder liked most -which rarely means he embodies them himself- or the values he believes better serve the business.

So values are either there because the founder wishes he had them, or because they’re good for the bottom line.

Corporate Manipulation Explained

The famous Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows that when our most basic needs are met we all strive for higher ideals.

Company’s values appeal to our higher selves and have three objectives:

Feed the hypocrisy to make employees feel good

Nudging people towards pro-social behavior which are good for the organization

Seek to increase the feeling of homogeneity among members.

The last one is interesting. If we believe we share similar values, it means we’re alike. And since we like people who are like us (Cialdini, 1984), you become a better team player (again, good for the corporation).

Case Study: Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs, the most successful, competitive and (in)famous Wall Street investment bank lists among its core values“integrity”, “honesty” and ” putting their clients’ interests first”.

How surprising to find out that Goldman’s bankers internally referred to clients as “muppets”. How even more surprising that a few years prior Goldman Sachs settled a 550 million fine with SEC regulators for, in fact, swindling their clients with the cr@ppy subprime CDOs which fueled the financial crisis.

What Machiavellian Bankers Show Us

Goldman Sachs employees’ survey shows that none of the employees picked transparency and integrity as the highest value and they all picked “teamwork and winning”. Nice move to put “teamwork” next to “winning” LOL (“How to Lie With Statistics“, anyone?).

GS shows that in an environment of selfish Machiavellis people know the rule:

Pay lip service to the higher ideals and focus on amassing resources.

#9. We Win Together – Or Lose Together

Businesses love to talk up and celebrate “team victories”.

And often you win and lose together, that’s true.

But the consequences of wins and losses look very different for owners, CEOs, and employees.

Why It’s a Corporate Lie

When the team loses the CEO gets a golden handshake and you get the sack.

When the “team” wins, the big shareholders get the cash and you get a pat on the back, a pittance and a useless corporate party that will steal even more of your personal time.

Corporate Manipulation Explained

Much social psychology research shows that men become more risk-seeking and prone to rioting when they feel like they are not given an equal chance in life (Hopkins, 2013).

But people on top don’t like unrest and risk-taking men and they’d rather have an obedient and submissive workforce.

When they say you all win together, they are trying to pre-emptively stave off all thoughts of unfairness to make you feel you’re all on the same boat.

Example: Walmart & Sam Walton

Sam Walton was a ruthless money-grubber. Until, he says in his memoirs “Made in America“, he had a revelation while traveling in England.

Walton decided Walmart would consider its employees as associates and would let them part of the company’s success through stock-sharing options.

Wow! How nice what Walton says.

Critics, who also have facts on their side, are not nearly as celebratory. Walmart paid 352 million to settle 63 lawsuits over wages, including forcing employees to work off the clock.

And Walmart employees are so poorly compensated that the state of California alone pays them $86 million a year in financial subsidies and food stamps.

Maybe money can’t buy you love, but Walmart employee’s stock options can’t even buy you food.

#10. Us (Good) VS Them (Bad)

The outgroup manipulation is most obvious in military units and dictatorships the whole world over, but company leaders are no strangers to it.

It consists of depicting the competitors (outgroup) as “bad”, “unfair” or “undeserving” and us (ingroup) as “good”, “just” and “deserving of victory”.

Corporate Manipulation Explained

A world where evil is 100% evil and good is 100% good would be a much simpler world. But unluckily, we don’t live in that world (Baumeister, 2010).

And of course, the implied game here is that by “winning” you restore the world to what’s just and fair.

But guess what? The owner profits from that new world order. While chances are that you get zilch when the company’s market share increases to N.2 instead of N.3.

Where Is The Manipulation

The ingroup-outgroup is a well-known sociological principle (see Tajfel, 1970) and this is how corporations gain by creating this social dynamic:

With a hostile outgroup, people feel a bigger sense of belonging

With the competitive mindset derived from ingroup/outgroup, employees will work harder

The worse you frame the competitors, the easier to justify unethical, immoral and violent actions

Example: Jocko Willink & US Military

Number 3 above is why you see the “enemy mindset” so obviously in the military.

Here is what Leif Babin, co-author of Extreme Ownership, says about the “Iraqi insurgents” (italic is mine):

Our snipers killed a lot of bad guys and received many well-deserved accolades for it

“Bad guys”, says the officer from the invading army.

It might not be a coincidence that business-speak borrows so much military jargon, and I recommend you reject that “bad enemies” frame at all times.

A Note On The Danger of Social Identities

Ingroup – Outgroup lead to social identities, such as people defining themselves not as individuals but as groups.

I find social identities potentially toxic and dangerous as they are major drivers behind jingoism, hooliganism, wars and general aggression and unneeded hatred.

I will cut it short here, but the potential toxicity of social identities is why I always invite in my reviews to reject:

Tribalist ideologies (“Tribe“, “The Way of Men“);

Misogynist ideologies pitching men against women (Toxic masculinity)

Toxic feminist ideologies pitching women against men (“The Power of The Pussy“, “Lean In” etc.)

Sometimes the most pro-social stance you can adopt is through a massive dose of individualism. –The Power Moves

#11. Appeals To Higher Ideals

The advanced level of the “values manipulation” are the appeals to higher and abstract ideals.

Appeals to higher ideals on more fragile minds can even lead to self-sacrifice and death. You can see these more often in more extreme organizations such as military, sects, hate groups, etc.

Higher ideals include:

Unity & brotherhood

Honor

Loyalty

Motherland

Why It’s a Corporate Lie

Don’t even make me start on this. In corporations, you work overtime for… For what exactly?

In the military, you give your life for an ideal and your family -or mangled you- gets a badge in exchange.

What a great deal.

But hey, you sacrifice yourself knowing that somewhere there is someone who handsomely profited from your sacrifice.

Corporate Manipulation Explained

There are two types of higher ideals manipulation:

Leveraging people’s tendencies to believe in mystic or religious promises of after-death (Charles Manson, Bin Laden etc.)

Leveraging evolutionary tendencies to defend the group (discussed earlier)

It might not be a coincidence that countries and ships’ names have female names. So, you know, it’s easier to inebriate young men into giving their lives to protect “their” women (yeah, sure…).

Case Study: Best-Selling Navy SEALs

Examples of higher ideals can often be seen in all organizations that require big sacrifices from their team members.

The bigger the sacrifice, the bigger the ideals (and the ougroup, see above).

Writes Jocko Willink in “The Dichotomy of Leadership“:

The wounded SEAL’s grip on my hand tightened and he pulled me in (…). Not scared (..) that he might lose his leg. Only concerned he might have to leave our task unit.

Task Unit Bruiser. Our task unit. Our Lives.

This was a man. This was a true friend -a brother-. This was a hero. Young, brave, and more concerned for his friends than for his own life.

There you go. This guy about to lose his leg doesn’t even have a name. That’s how much he mattered. But hey, now his name is “hero”.

But you only need to put a wider lens to see a much different story of this “hero” and the great team he got a bullet for.

How about the “hero” being part of an invading force which some professional propagandist span as a “war for freedom”? And the team he got a bullet for as the fat cats getting rich on his behalf in the oil and arms’ industries?

#12. Appeals To Death-Defying Goals

Some of the most powerful values one can summon are transcendental.

Appeals to eternity leverage our unconscious wish of transcending the psychical world, contributing to something eternal. Few are frank enough to admit it because, unconsciously, they know how narcissistic that would sound. But death-defying values are all about “being remembered forever”.

The “making an impact” that we saw earlier is an example of an appeal to eternity. When we “make an impact” we leave a mark in the world and in the universe. And we keep living on.

Some appeals to eternity are:

“Changing the world”

Disrupting

“Moonshots” (see popular speaker Peter Diamandis)

Anything that’s “never been done before”

Working on the “biggest / most advanced” project etc.

Why It’s a Corporate Lie

I can tell you with almost complete certainty that no human being will ever be remembered forever.

And the idea of “changing the world” is ludicrous. The world changes anyway, and any changes are nothing but transitions.

In short, the goal of “being remembered forever” is not only aggressively narcissistic, but it’s also plain stupid.

And no, that’s not sad. Quite the opposite: it’s empowering and liberating (and it helps you break free of manipulative leaders).

Corporate Manipulation Explained

We are the only animals on this planet who are aware of our own mortality. That must impact our psychology and behavior somehow, and terror management theory is a branch of social psychology researching exactly that.

TMT has received its fair share of criticism, but it has passed laboratory scrutiny (Burke et al., 2010) and it’s solid science.

TMT It postulates that the conflict between self-preservation and our cognition of death pushes us to unconsciously pursue values, ideals, and goals that make us transcend the physical realm.

Burkeman in “The Antidote” says that people primed with subtle reminders of death:

Prefer charismatic leaders (Cohen et al., 2014)

Supports group-affirming values (Cohen et al., 2005)

Seek stronger punishments for “culturally amoral” (Rosenblatt, 1989)

There you have it: seek a charismatic leader, defend the group and punish outsiders. The definition of a sect.

And that’s what why conservative leaders also leverage the fear of physical harm and death: it rallies the troops behind the (supposedly) strong and charismatic politicians (Bush the Vietnam war’s skirter in military uniform, anyone?).

These are all behaviors that corporations would be happy with. Act like a sect, follow the leader and give your all… For eternity -and for the founders’ more physical income-.

TMT theory has been used to explain the birth and persistence of religions. And that’s why, in many ways, No Logo author Naomi Klein was quite right and prescient when she said that the best brands are the new religions (brain scans confirmed it too, eventually).

Example: Steve Jobs & Elon Musk

Steve Jobs was the master of this corporate manipulation.

Everything about Jobs was about “changing the world”, “making an impact” and “putting a dent in the universe” (he actually said that).

By reflection, people who joined Apple as employees were also part of that “universe dent”. They also “changed the world” and they all put in their (futile) claim to eternity.

Elon Musk also leverages appeals to eternity. The whole spiel on “making us an interplanetary species” is a big moonshot at “making history”. And people really get stupid trying to join Musk’s team. That’s the power of the charismatic, death-defying leader.

Do All Business Leaders Lie?

So the answer to this one is “the vast majority lies, yes”. But that doesn’t really tell us anything because the very human nature of maximizing one’s own returns lead most humans to be natural manipulators (Wright, “The Moral Animal“).

Better questions would be:

Do corporations take manipulations to a higher level?

By their own very organized structure and by virtue of the people they tend to attract to leadership roles, corporations do indeed manipulate much better and much more effectively than individuals.

Do all corporations abuse employees?

This is an easy one to answer: no, not all businesses abuse employees.

At least not beyond what most people would consider a “fair” and “non-abusive” exchange.

However, many do. And many more will try unless you stay vigilant.

Should employees be wary of their own organizations?

There is a natural, opposing duality in the relationship between organizations and employees.

Both can be better off cooperating with a fair 50/50 split fo the pie.

But, like in a public goods game, either one -but not both- can be much better off by taking more of the pie and short-changing everyone else.

The human tendency is to always take a bit more and give a bit less, without exaggerating too much (see various experiments of ultimatum games). But some bad apples, of course, will try to take much more and give much less.

Employees must be aware of this potentially adversarial relationship.

Do leaders roles go to the worst of humans?

No, not necessarily.

Driven men are the men who move the world forward. Without them, we’d be still stuck in stone-age. We need driven people.

But there is definitely a dark side to it which entails the potential for abuse.

A case could be made that powerful business roles attract personalities that are most likely to centralize power, hog resources and do anything that’s needed to reach their goal (including trampling employees).

George Simon, Author of the wonderful “In Sheep’s Clothing” says:

CEOs like who they are and are comfortable with their behavior patterns and how they act. Even though their behavior might bother others a lot. (…) CEOs are undetered by adverse consequences or societal condemnation.

And indeed Travis Bradberry‘s data shows that emotional intelligence increases in mid-level managers but decreases with execs and CEOs.

This all might point to an even deeper question: is it even moral to work for corporations?

The Morality of Corporations Over Individuals

This is what we gleaned so far:

Many CEOs care little about others

Yet corporate manipulation is about getting individuals to forego their self-interest for the group

Let’s be clear about something: getting people to care more about the group can be a very good thing. It’s, after all, the basis of our societies. It’s also the basis of transformational leadership (Burns, 1978) and it can be used for good also in corporations.

But it can also be used for dark and/or purely selfish reasons without any benefit for the individual.

Whether it’s used for good or of the founders’ personal gains hinges on how the leaders reward the individuals for foregoing the self in favor of the organization. I don’t know the specifics of your company and it’s your responsibility to judge your own company.

And I underline “responsibility”.

So take a hard look. What’s behind your company’s slogans and values?

And don’t forget to contribute

Finally, lemme clarify that this article is not an encouragement to expect a salary without giving back.

Expecting strangers to care for you without giving back is the definition of free-loading -and one of the worst examples of entitlement mentality-.

My recommendation is that you focus on giving while critically observing your work environment and assertively demanding a fair balance of give and take.

If you don’t see a fair environment or if your fair demands are not met, then consider you might be doing something better with your time.

SUMMARY

Organizations have a tendency to manipulate employees into dropping their selfish interests in favor of the group’s interest.

That’s not always necessarily wrong.

But it’s usually the case that the company gains by promoting pro-social behavior while the employee does not always gain in equal measure.

This article encourages you to critically assess your company and to look at the reality of things beyond corporate lies and HR manipulations.

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siliconwebx · 5 years

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Why Being Resilient is Essential to Success

The day my boyfriend moved his furniture out, a week after I’d ended our six-year relationship, my Mom called as I was curled up on my temporary makeshift couch of two oversized pillows pushed together. “I’m okay,” I said. “Oh, I know you’re okay,” she replied. “You’re strong as steel.”

Steel. I love that word. It’s a noun, of course, but it’s also a verb: to steel oneself, to mentally prepare for a difficulty that’s coming. Life is hard. Steel is harder.

There’s a storm before every calm. We’ve all faced one and will face more. You will not escape it. Some of us are probably in the middle of one right now.

Flailing and complaining, worrying and unraveling – these reactions don’t help us. They’re natural and honest, and they deserve acknowledgment, but the next steps are release, acceptance and bracing for impact.

Success isn’t found in the breakdown. It’s in the buildup.

We Need Resilience in Small Doses, Too

Resilience isn’t required for just the big things. Anyone who freelances, runs a business or is striving to level up in their career – or who has a newborn, is healing from an injury or is going through a divorce – knows that it takes bite-sized resilience multiple times a day. I’d argue that it’s more difficult to stay strong in little moments than in big ones. When life-or-death isn’t the conundrum, it’s much easier to buckle under lesser pressures, especially as they build up.

Rock Bottom Doesn’t Have to Be the Springboard

When the worst has happened, either by fate or your own fault, the way up is obvious because it’s the only way. You can be resilient before you stretch that rubber band that is your life as far as it’ll go, though. In so many situations, you have the ability to stop, shift and change the outcome; to improve your day now instead of waiting for tomorrow; to foresee bigger problems ahead and start making repairs now to avoid them.

Mister Rogers has a song called, “What Do You Do With the Mad That You Feel?” and even though it’s to help children make better decisions when they’re angry, it’s applicable to adults, too – because let’s be honest, we can all turn into toddlers when we don’t get our way. Here’s the best line: “It’s great to be able to stop when you’ve planned a thing that’s wrong, and be able to do something else instead.” Whether the difficulty you’re facing is within your control or outside of it, you can choose how you’ll recover.

(Have you see the Mister Rogers documentary? Watch it. Be prepared to cry.)

Maybe It’s a Good Time to Bail

When I was in high school, there were these two cousins who wanted to beat me up, tough, mean girls who wouldn’t have hesitated to punch me right in the face. They told me to meet them down in the parking lot after school. All day long, people came up to me to ask what I was going to do. I just shrugged, unflustered – “I’m not going to go down to the parking lot.” I left at 3 p.m., walked to my after-school job and nobody ever clucked another word about it.

We’re always bouncing back from something. Sometimes you have the luxury to choose what you want to cope with. I didn’t have to learn how to be resilient after getting a black eye. Instead, I bounced back from a scary threat and school-wide speculation, which taught me an entirely different – and more worthwhile – lesson.

Get real with yourself. What’s required here? What do you want to deal with? What are you even capable of dealing with? Is there a better, smarter choice with positive, long-lasting impact?

Life doesn’t reward you for taking the harder, tougher route for toughness’ sake alone. Your choices should make you a stronger person.

5 Ways to Be More Resilient

Assuming you can’t bail right now, here’s how to become more resilient, both in the moment and in daily life – think of it as your resiliency training.

1. Ignore the finish line. Believe in your abilities.

Few things turn out the way we envision them. A lot of the time, they end up way better than we could have pictured. Or way worse.

Goals are necessary so there’s something to strive for, but don’t fool yourself into thinking you’ll know exactly how a situation is going to turn out. (I dive into this some more in my article about the illusion of control.)

Personally, the best things in my life have come from two ideas working simultaneously: (1) utter acceptance that I have no idea what the future will look like and (2) complete and total faith in my abilities. Sometimes my ability is as abstract as making good decisions and leading myself in the right direction, and sometimes it’s a lot more tangible, like being able to write well and provide good customer service to my clients.

The point here is that if you’re more confident in your capability than hung up on the outcome, you’ll have an easier time bouncing back because you’ll be relying on the most trustworthy person in your life: yourself.

2. Gamify it.

Right now, you can’t do the last thing – you can’t solve the entire problem – but you can do the next best thing. Sometimes that’s super hard, like the time I hiked Giant Mountain, fell three times, hurt my knee and realized I didn’t bring my headlamp as the sun was setting (or the right boots or enough water). Or like when climber Joe Simpson shattered the Hell out of his leg at 19,000 feet – spoiler alert, he survived and then wrote Touching the Void about the experience, which I recommend you read.

Joe and I both gamified the experience. He created a pattern of movements to use for each step; I got up and down that mountain in 100-step groups. I’m sure we both cried, but we also both lived to tell the tale.

The point isn’t necessarily to make the situation fun but to make it bearable, to keep the mind distracted and focus on one crisis at a time. If you’re not in something as threatening and unforgiving as the wilderness, you can even give yourself small treats as you reach mini-goals.

3. Manage your impulses.

If you’re generally an impulsive person in life, you’re going to be an impulsive person under stress – possibly more impulsive and with worse consequences. Staying calm and making rational decisions can help you be more resilient because you won’t make a situation worse before it can get better.

Since most days you’re going to deal with minor problems and not major ones, get used to acting less impulsively. Don’t make decisions out of pure frustration or even pure excitement – think them through first. Write a pros and cons list if you need to. Or see what happens if you make no decision right now and give yourself plenty of time to sit on it.

4. Move through the stages of grief quickly.

There are seven stages of grief:

Shock: Paralysis when facing the situation.

Denial: Avoiding the inevitable.

Anger: Bottled-up emotion and frustration pour out.

Bargaining: Trying to find a way out of the situation (but not in a healthy or productive way).

Depression: Realizing the inevitable is…inevitable, and being upset about that.

Testing: Looking for realistic solutions to the problem.

Acceptance: Finding a way to move forward.

People who are resilient move from the shock stage to the testing and acceptance stages quickly. They may even skip some of the stages in between, especially if they’ve faced the same difficulty in the past. Laurence Gonzales writes about this in Deep Survival (great book, BTW): “The best survivors spend almost no time, especially in emergencies, getting upset about what has been lost, or feeling distressed about things going badly.”

Forcing your way through the stages of grief takes a lot of willpower, especially because the middle stages are so tempting to sink into. Getting it all out can help, whether that’s out loud to someone you know or down on paper. If you need to, write out the different stages and how you’ve experienced them. Then start listing those solutions.

You can definitely practice this in everyday life. When something small-but-totally-annoying happens, force yourself to skip over the “I’m so upset about this” stages. Go right to solving the problem. The next time you spill an entire carton of orange juice on your kitchen floor, start cleaning it up without hesitating. If you forgot to buy something at the store, put your sneakers on and head back out before you can beat yourself up over it. If you get a splinter, gather the rubbing alcohol and the tweezers and get that sucker out. Just get it done.

5. Learn from others.

“Others have been through it too” isn’t comforting for everyone, but it’s always been comforting for me, especially when I can tie my experience to that of a specific person, not just the general public. We’re all unique butterflies, but honestly, one person’s heartbreak or firing from work or fight with a family member is a billion other people’s, too. Knowing that others came before, labored through and walked out the other end healed, employed or on speaking terms is supremely hopeful. Pardon my penchant for sappy stories, but this quote from P.S. I Love You pinballs in my head whenever I feel alone in disappointment or sadness: “Thing to remember is if we’re all alone, then we’re all together in that too.”

In practice, this can mean telling people about what you’re going through – you’ll hear similar stories in return. I’m not a “spill your heart out” person usually, so my solution has always been to pick up a book or read a magazine article about how Joe Famous Person faced something horrible and got through it. And if you really need a jolt of “everyone’s been here,” listen to Nate Berkus’ interview called “Surviving the Storm” on the SuperSoul Conversations podcast.

On the same note, this is a perfect time to give back. Helping others can give you a fix of “my life isn’t so bad,” or just shake you out of whatever slump you’re in. If you get a confidence boost from being selfless, I give you permission to enjoy that – it’s not selfish to feel good about yourself.

Wrapping Up

If you’re not a person who can handle daily life and all its teeny struggles, you’re going to have a difficult time moving through those stages of grief in order to help yourself when the you-know-what really hits the fan. Your habits and the way you handle your emotions on a normal day are the training and preparation you need to be truly resilient when you need it most. Get used to helping yourself in small ways so that it’ll be second nature when serious drama or trauma blows through.

Excited about being less impulsive and more cool, calm and collected? Check out this article about how responding instead of reacting can improve your business relationships.

The post Why Being Resilient is Essential to Success appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

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weannoyingbouquetgalaxy-blog1 · 6 years

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