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empiredesimparte · 7 months

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PRESS ARTICLE - URGENT: New Chief of Staff and dissolution of the Legislative Body by His Majesty!

The Emperor's new private military staff, Admiral Florent Quincy, 55, was spotted at the Tuileries Palace. He advises His Majesty on French and international military affairs, even the most sensitive ones. Which makes him an important adviser for the country's future policy.

Admiral Florent Quincy met the Emperor for the first time at the Tuileries Palace in Paris. He was guided by Jean Schulmeister, Napoleon IV's former chief of staff.

Florent Quincy's arrival in the corridors of power is attracting attention for a number of reasons, not least because he is one of the Simpartist party's biggest contributors and has extensive military experience aboard the aircraft carrier Le Normandie.

A few days earlier, His Majesty the Emperor Napoléon V dissolved Parliament. This is a rare political act, which in the republican tradition is normally used to resolve serious crises and is often judged with suspicion. It is wise to assume that the Emperor wished to give his Prime Minister Charlemagne de Maupas new political room for manoeuvre by increasing the number of Imperial Party seats in Parliament.

State of the Legislative Body under the First Government of Charlemagne de Maupas (end of the reign of Napoléon IV)

The opposition party (Third Party) had 150 seats compared with 200 for the Emperor.

Before the dissolution, His Majesty had only a very small majority, which allowed the opposition parties to systematically block the measures desired by the government.

State of the Legislative Body under the Second Government of Charlemagne de Maupas (Napoléon V)

Dissolution was a risky but successful gamble for the Emperor, as His Majesty's party won 83 seats in the early elections. This majority will strengthen the powers of the second government of Charlemagne de Maupas and the Simpartist party for many years to come.

Dissolution is permitted under the French Constitution in the event of "extended powers given to the Emperor in times of crisis". These powers were conferred on the Emperor after the death of His Majesty, the late Emperor Napoléon IV, in a terrorist attack.

At the beginning of his reign, Emperor Napoléon V asked the French Parliament to grant him extensive powers. Some opponents of power deplored the end of democracy, and the dissolution of Parliament is proof of this today.

It is clear that through this very serious political gesture, His Majesty is showing all his power, since he enjoys great popularity, but also that he is placing all his trust in his Prime Minister, Charlemagne de Maupas.

⚜ Traduction française

ARTICLE - URGENT : Dissolution du Corps Législatif par Sa Majesté !

Au palais des Tuileries a été aperçu le nouvel état major des armées particulier de l'Empereur, l'amiral Florent Quincy, 55 ans. Ce dernier conseille Sa Majesté pour les affaires militaires françaises et internationales, même les plus délicates. Ce qui en fait un conseiller important pour la future politique du pays.

L'amiral Florent Quincy rencontre l'Empereur pour la première fois au palais des Tuileries à Paris. Il est guidé par l'ancien état-major de Napoléon IV, Jean Schulmeister.

L'arrivée de Florent Quincy aux loges du pouvoir attire l'attention pour de multiples raisons, principalement parce qu'il est l'un des plus grands collaborateurs du parti Simpartiste et a une grande expérience militaire à bord du porte-avions Le Normandie.

Quelques jours plus tôt, Sa Majesté l'Empereur Napoléon V a dissous le Parlement. C'est un acte politique rare, qui dans la tradition républicaine, est normalement utilisée pour résoudre des crises graves et qui est souvent jugée avec suspicion. Il est sage de penser que l'Empereur a souhaité donner à son Premier Ministre Charlemagne une nouvelle marge de manoeuvre politique en renforçant le nombre de sièges du Parti impérial au Parlement.

Etat du Corps Législatif sous le Premier Gouvernement de Charlemagne de Maupas

Avant la dissolution, Sa Majesté ne disposait que d'une très faible majorité qui permettait aux partis de l'opposition de bloquer systématiquement les mesures souhaitées par le gouvernement.

La dissolution était un pari risqué mais réussi pour l'Empereur, puisque le parti de Sa Majesté a gagné grâce aux élections anticipées 83 sièges. Cette majorité va permettre de renforcer les pouvoirs du second gouvernement de Charlemagne de Maupas et du parti Simpartiste pour de longues années.

L'Empereur Napoléon V au début de son règne demande au Parlement français de lui conférer les pouvoirs étendus.

La dissolution est permise par la Constitution française en cas de "pouvoirs élargis donnés à l'Empereur en temps de crise". Ces pouvoirs ont été conférés à l'Empereur après la mort de feu Sa Majesté, l'Empereur Napoléon IV dans un attentat. Il est évident qu'à travers ce geste politique d'une grande gravité, Sa Majesté montre toute sa puissance puisqu'il jouit d'une grande popularité, mais aussi qu'il place toute sa confiance en son Premier Ministre, Charlemagne de Maupas.

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chamomiletealeaf · 3 months

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This is for @going-to-ikea-for-the-fries and anyone else who wants to read my theoretical framework of Johnny MacTavish's personality lol. I just copied and pasted the paper so sorry if the format is awkward.

Abstract

This paper discusses and analyzes the personality of Sergeant Johnny “Soap” Mactavish from the Call of Duty video game franchise. His personality is looked at through the lenses of Alfred Adler’s theory of Fictional Finalism and Carl Jung’s theory of Extraversion. For Alfred Adler’s theory of Fictional Finalism, themes such as the feeling of inferiority and the desire to be superior in childhood are discussed and applied to the analysis of Johnny MacTavish’s personality and his behavior in the military as an adult. For Carl Jung’s theory of Extraversion, themes relating to what makes an Extravert and how they function in society and with the people and atmosphere around them are also taken into account to analyze the personality of Johnny MacTavish.

Keywords: Johnny “Soap” MacTavish, personality, theory, analyze, Alfred Adler, Fictional Finalism, Carl Jung, Extraversion

Johnny Mactavish is one of the most beloved and iconic characters from the video game Call of Duty. Specifically the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 reboot, which was released in 2022. The charming Scotsman has stolen the hearts of many players across the world due to his light hearted banter with his team members on Task Force 141, his passion, and his provision of comic relief. He is more commonly known as “Soap”, his callsign, due to his impeccable speed and accuracy in room clearance, as they refer to it in the military, which is checking if a room is clear of threats (Contributors to Call of Duty Wiki).

Johnny is very spirited. His personality is interesting because it contrasts the personality of the other soldiers on the Task Force. The other soldiers, although they are also very loveable characters, tend to be more stoic and tame than Johnny. He is quite literally their sun and they cannot help but get caught within his beams. Although not much about Johnny’s childhood, age, or backstory is mentioned throughout the game other than his origin from Scotland, it is mentioned, however, that he has taken an interest in the military ever since he was a child due to his older cousin bringing him around base to experience a day in the life as a soldier (Contributors to Call of Duty Wiki). Ever since then, Johnny has made it his ultimate goal to serve and protect the world from threats, as being so in awe of the world his older cousin exposed him to. Johnny has so much life in him which contrasts the darkness of his job as a Sergeant where he witnesses atrocities daily. He makes friends with nearly everyone he is put on missions with and is extremely witty. Many could say that he has the personality a teenage boy might due to his impulsivity and harmless mischief to the point where his behavior and remarks may be viewed as immature or inappropriate for the time being. He is always searching for a thrill and possesses a confidence that does not go unnoticed. However, Johnny knows when to be serious. He is a trained sniper and demolitions expert and the youngest person to ever pass the SAS (Special Air Forces Selection), despite constantly lying about his age at 16 and getting caught every time. He is extremely intelligent and knows when to demonstrate and use it when it is needed, putting his playful nature aside, thus showing responsibility. He is a natural born leader. Because of Johnny’s competence and proficiency, he eventually gained the position and title as Captain MacTavish (Contributors to Call of Duty Wiki).

One reason why I believe Johnny MacTavish is so cheery and outgoing, is because he has to be. Meaning, he deals with so much pain, death, and evil in his everyday life that he refuses to let it get to him. He remembers the oath he made to himself as a child when he first stepped foot onto a military base to become an even better soldier than his older cousin and to create better lives for people, and he intends to keep it. And to him, being the light in the darkness to his teammates and every soul he meets, other than the Task Force’s enemies of course, is a contribution to making the world a better place. As aforementioned, very little is known about Johnny’s childhood and home life aside from his older cousin, so I assume that his personality has developed from his interactions with his team, as he joined the military very young when he was still a teenager (Contributors to Call of Duty Wiki). So, Johnny maturing within a strict military setting, he didn’t get to experience the typical teenage life, so holding onto his boyish charm is a way to make up for a childhood that he may have missed out on. He became extremely close with the Task Force and he found a family other than his blood (Contributors to Call of Duty Wiki).

To analyze Johnny MacTavish’s personality further, it can be viewed through both Alfred Adler’s theory of Fictional Finalism and Carl Jung’s theory of Extraversion. These two theories apply to the personality of Johnny MacTavish because Alfred Adler’s Fictional Finalism theory discusses one’s desire to meet a future goal, and Carl Jung’s theory of Extraversion suggests how extraversion influences how one interacts with others. Johnny’s goal is to help cleanse the world from evil and be the best soldier he can be, and his extraversion plays a part in his qualifications for leadership and how easy it is for him to connect with other people.

Starting with Adler’s theory of Fictional Finalism, an article from Libretexts discusses how Fictional Finalism is rooted in the belief that one feels inferior during childhood. They strive to be superior to their parents or other authorities in their lives. They fictionalize and imagine what they want their goal in life to be and are motivated to get themselves there (Kelland, 2022). The article goes on to discuss how feelings of superiority and inferiority affect one’s goals and how they go about their life and how it connects to Fictional Finalism. It also discusses other concepts such as Fictive Superiority, where one falsely believes that they are actually superior to everyone, and how it can get confused with Fictional Finalism due to the influence of the desire to be superior (Kelland, 2022). Johnny MacTavish demonstrates Fictional Finalism in his childhood when his older cousin introduced him to the military. Ever since then, Johnny strived to be a better soldier than his older cousin and to make the world a better place. Even in adulthood Johnny demonstrates Fictional Finalism with the same goal. He also gained other goals that seemed out of reach for him such as becoming Captain, which he eventually achieved (Contributors to Call of Duty Wiki). Another way Johnny shows the characteristics of Fictional Finalism is when he is talking to his Lieutenant and best friend Simon “Ghost” Riley. Jokingly, Johnny tells Lieutenant Riley, “I want to be like you when I grow up L.T.” to which Lieutenant Riley responds “You want to be better than me Johnny.” Johnny then ends the conversation by saying “I will be” (Brian Bloom et al., 2022).

Another article by PressBooks discusses Adler’s belief that the power of one’s individual self influences their Fictional Finalism. He believed that each person is born with a sense of inferiority as an infant and as they grow older, they develop a goal that is unique to themselves based on their personal life experiences. This became known as Individual Psychology (The American Women's College Psychology Department & McGrath, n/a). The article goes on to explain Adler’s belief that people’s outlook on life and what they deem their self worth to be has all to do with the meaning of their life and their life goals. This goes for Johnny MacTavish as well because his goal of being a good soldier and doing all he can to make the world less malicious is individualized to how dear he holds his job and his military influence from his older cousin at such a young age.

Another personality theory that can be used to analyze Johnny MacTavish’s personality is Carl Jung’s theory of Extraversion. According to an article from the website Carl Jung Depth Psychology, Carl Jung’s personality theory of Extraversion described Extraversion as one’s energy being drawn to the outer world. An Extravert is normally talkative and social. They are the life of the party. An Extravert is driven by outside factors which influences how they perceive life (Purrington et al., 2020). The article also discusses how Carl Jung believed that everyone had Introverted and Extraverted tendencies, with one being more dominant over the other. It also discusses the dangers of Extraversion such as getting to caught up with being out in the world and giving too much of oneself away to where you end up losing yourself (Purrington et al., 2020). Johnny MacTavish can be characterized as an Extravert for the way he socializes with those around him, even if he doesn’t know them. He is loud, welcoming, jolly, and unapologetically himself. His assertiveness and shamelessness of who he is and how he interacts with his teammates on the Task Force and other soldiers such as making jokes and treating them like life long friends clearly labels him as an Extravert. Johnny is rarely alone and his energy is very drawn to the outside world, as his goal to make the world as peaceful as possible is an external goal in and of itself.

A separate article written by Kendra Cherry discusses Extraversion’s effect on human behavior. The article discusses how Extraverts thrive from social interaction and the difference between Extraversion and Introversion. Introversion is a lack of Extraversion, and is often misinterpreted as shyness (Kendra Cherry, 2023). Introverts tend to enjoy time alone more than being in social gatherings and keep to themselves more than Extraverts do by choice, as they do not need social interaction to enjoy themselves (Kendra Cherry, 2023). The article also lists Extraversion traits such as enjoying attention, talkativeness, friendliness, engaging in the atmosphere around them, etc. These traits all describe Johnny MacTavish. As previously mentioned, Johnny is the life of the party and the comedic relief when things get rough on the battlefield, and the other soldiers admire his positivity, wit, encouragement, and energy even during the toughest of times. Extraversion also tends to be associated with leadership (Kendra Cherry, 2023). Johnny’s ability to communicate with others well, confidence, inspiration, and heightened spirit allows him to be a strong leader as well as his precision with leading and planning missions. The Captain of Task Force 141, Captain John Price, noticed this in Johnny and took a special liking to him (Contributors to Call of Duty Wiki). Lacking certain Extraverted traits may cause one to be a weaker leader than another, but that is not to say Introverts cannot be leaders themselves, as Introverts also have skills that allow them to be organized and intelligent (Kendra Cherry, 2023).

One more interesting way of viewing Extraversion is through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This is another way of analyzing personality. Johnny MacTavish can be classified as an ESFP type personality, also known as the “Entertainer” or the “Performer” (Kendra Cherry, 2022) . The ESFP personality type is one that is very closely related to Extraversion, as they have pretty much the same traits such as enjoying socialization and going with the flow of things (Kendra Cherry, 2022). An ESFP personality also thrives off of spontaneity, which can also be their weakness, as they may not think about the consequences of their actions and how they can negatively affect the outcome (Kendra Cherry, 2022). This describes Johnny MacTavish to a tee as his impulsive actions can sometimes get him and others into trouble since he sometimes doesn’t think before acting. An example of this can be seen in one scene from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 when the Task Force captured their enemy Vladimir Makarov and they were transporting him in a helicopter. However, Makarov wanted to get caught to distract the team so he could blow up an airport without the Task Force catching him before, which would interrupt his plan. Johnny was furious and started beating Makarov and held him at gunpoint, threatening to kill him. The Task Force Captain, Captain John Price, had to hold Johnny back and convince him to put the gun down, because if he killed Makarov, they would be committing a war crime. Johnny eventually listened to Price and released Makarov. Unfortunately, at the end of the game’s campaign, Makarov killed Johnny MacTavish with a shot to the temple (Halon et al., 2023).

With everything said, Johnny MacTavish is a passionate, bubbly, and lively character who thrives so much from his interactions with the world around him thus inspiring him to fight to make it as safe and wonderful as he can so it can be seen by others the way he sees it. He is spontaneous and quite literally the Task Force’s ray of sunshine in their darkness due to the contrast of his personality compared to his teammates. Both Adler’s theory of Fictional Finalism and Carl Jung’s theory of Extraversion apply to Johnny’s personality because of his determination to be the good in the world and his extremely friendly social nature. He possesses traits that allow him to always find the good in things and to be a natural born leader even in the roughest and darkest of times, which his teammates admire (Contributors to Call of Duty Wiki). The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator of the ESFP personality type can also be applied to Johnny’s personality since he is very impulsive and thrives off of social interaction. Traits of the ESFP personality type can also be very closely related, and even included in the definition of Extraversion, and vice versa (Kendra Cherry, 2022). Because of all the personality traits he shows, his charm, and his unique way of acting despite the counter personalities of his teammates, Johnny MacTavish is a video game character that will be remembered as an icon for generations to come, despite no longer being alive in the Call of Duty world.

References Bloom, B., Anderson, E., & Harris, J. (2022). Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward,) [Video game]. Activision.

The American Women’s College Psychology Department, & McGrath, M. (n.d.). Chapter 4, part 2: Adler’s individual psychology. PSY321 Course Text Theories of Personality. https://open.baypath.edu/psy321book/chapter/c4p2/

Contributors to Call of Duty Wiki. (n.d.). Johnny “soap” mactavish. Call of Duty Wiki. https://callofduty.fandom.com/wiki/Johnny_%22Soap%22_MacTavish

Halon, A., Swenson, D., & Reisdorf, G. (2023). Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Sledgehammer Games, ) [Video game]. Activision.

Kelland, M. D. (2022, December 1). 4.3: Adler’s individual psychology. Social Sci LibreTexts. https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Pers onality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/04%3A_Alfred_Adler_and_Harry_ Stack_Sullivan/4.03%3A_Adler’s_Individual_Psychology

Kendra Cherry, Mse. (2022, September 27). Are you social and spontaneous? you might be an ESFP. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/esfp-extraverted-sensing-feeling-perceiving-2795984 #:~:text=Key%20ESFP%20Characteristics%201%20They%20are%20practical%20an d,very%20understanding.%20...%204%20They%20are%20fun-loving.%20

Kendra Cherry, Mse. (2023, November 22). How extroversion in personality influences behavior. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-extroversion-2795994

Purrington, A. Mr. (2020, December 5). Carl Jung on extraversion lexicon. Carl Jung Depth Psychology. https://carljungdepthpsychologysite.blog/2020/05/01/carl-jung-on-extraversion-lexicon/

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akonaman · 3 months

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went to the largest church in Asia and it was a pretty good experience. for someone na lumaki going to catholic churches but not practicing their beliefs, im still in awe how people could preserve a big church like this.

sobrang naenjoy ko yung sunrise kahit medyo foggy talaga sa tags that time. shuta sa tagal kong di lumabas namangha ako sa mga nakikita ko HAHA. i really appreciate the nature and how it brings peace. kinda.

after nento hanap uli ng pang replace sa current job ko. sana may mahanap ako na mataas na sahod pero individual contributor lang. gusto ko muna ng payapang buhay.

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usafphantom2 · 4 months

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Here’s how two little Dents on the SR-71 Nose prevented Surface-to-air Missiles from Scoring any Hit on the Blackbird

The SR-71 Blackbird

In the 1960’s, the US Air Force (USAF) developed the SR-71 Blackbird, a plane that could travel more than 3 times as fast as the sound produced by its own engines.

SR-71 T-Shirts

CLICK HERE to see The Aviation Geek Club contributor Linda Sheffield’s T-shirt designs! Linda has a personal relationship with the SR-71 because her father Butch Sheffield flew the Blackbird from test flight in 1965 until 1973. Butch’s Granddaughter’s Lisa Burroughs and Susan Miller are graphic designers. They designed most of the merchandise that is for sale on Threadless. A percentage of the profits go to Flight Test Museum at Edwards Air Force Base. This nonprofit charity is personal to the Sheffield family because they are raising money to house SR-71, #955. This was the first Blackbird that Butch Sheffield flew on Oct. 4, 1965.

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 spy plane remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. Flying at Mach 3+ from 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour. And in the off chance an enemy tried to shoot it down with a missile, all the Blackbird had to do was speed up and outrun it.

Its engineering was so cutting edge that even the tools to build the SR-71 needed to be designed from scratch.

Dents on the SR-71 Blackbird Nose

My Dad and former SR-71 RSO Richard “Butch” Sheffield (Butch was his nickname because of his haircut that he had back in the 60s) he used to point to the nose of the SR-71 Blackbird when we would meet him at the Udvar Air and Space Smithsonian Museum in Virginia. He would point to the dimples and say “This is really important but I can’t talk about it.”

He would smile.

Here’s how two little Dents placed on the Nose of the SR-71 prevented Surface-to-air Missiles from Scoring any Hit on the Blackbird

Richard Butch Sheffield and Bob Spencer

I could just tell he wanted to tell me but he didn’t.

My father and Bob Spencer flew in one of the most important missions in the SR-71 when they got the SA- 5 Missile Signal flying within inches of the Russian border. Getting that signal was very important for the defense of the SR-71.

No one ever shot down an SR-71 they never even got close. Speed and defense made it impossible.

According to former Blackbird pilot Col. Richard H. Graham’s book SR-71 The Complete Illustrated History of THE BLACKBIRD The World’s Highest , Fastest Plane, the nose section allowed the SR-71 to have radar-imaging capability with the advanced synthetic aperture radar system (ASARS), photographic imagery with the optical bar camera (OBC), or a ballast installed. The nose section was held on by faun-massive fasteners.

Here’s how two little Dents on the SR-71 Nose prevented Surface-to-air Missiles from Scoring any Hit on the Blackbird

SR-71 Nose Section

The Dents that prevented Surface-to-air Missiles from Scoring any Hit on the SR-71 Blackbird

However, my doubt remained unanswered.

What are those two little dents on the nose of the SR-71 Blackbird?

‘I’m assuming you’re talking about the two “dents” in the chines at the front part of the nose, one on each side? Those aren’t dents, those were put there on purpose for the more advanced ECM systems the Blackbird got in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s,’ says Kelly Pedron, an aviation expert, on Quora.

SR-71 print

This print is available in multiple sizes from AircraftProfilePrints.com – CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS. SR-71A Blackbird 61-7972 “Skunkworks”

‘There weren’t any good places to put the ECM receivers in the front of the aircraft, so those “dents” were put in the chine to allow the installation of ECM receivers there. If you’ll notice, the flat part of the “dent” is facing about 60 degrees forward, in order to cover that quadrant of the airspace around the aircraft. Earlier models of the SR, including the A-12, were more concerned with attack radar signals from the rear, so front-mounted ECM receivers weren’t as necessary at the time. With the advent of more advanced Soviet SAM systems, like the S-200 and S-300, a forward warning receiver and jammer were required, hence the development of the so-called ECM “dents” in the nose.’

Pedron concludes;

‘So, yes, those were put there on purpose; nobody accidentally taxied an SR-71 into a solid object.’

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter X Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

@Habubrats71 via X

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switchcase · 1 year

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hey, do you know anything about why trauma survivors seem so much more likely to have comorbid physical disorders (like chronic pain &/or fatigue, fibro, neurological disorders etc)? some make sense (like TBIs) but others aren't as easily explainable. (I'm especially interested in chronic fatigue!) Thanks!

Prolonged trauma affects your nervous system, stress hormone fucks your body to hell when it's high level for an elongated period of time. Your nervous system is how you tell whether you are in pain or not. One idea of how fibromyalgia works is that your nerves were so overexposed to physical pain that it now misinterprets other sensations as pain because of the nerves getting sensitized to it.

There is also that certain socioeconomic backgrounds have higher prevalences of trauma, and socioeconomic factors have a play in the development of chronic pain conditions (ie, malnutrition can be a contributor to poor bone/joint health, those working hard labor are generally more prone to chronic pain, long hours on your feet, stress from poverty).

There is also the approach that many of these conditions have a genetic component, and trauma is merely one sort of stressor that can cause the condition to become expressed rather than simply being carried.

As far as neurological disorders, it sort of depends? There are some where like you said it is caused by trauma directly. There are others where having a preexisting neurological condition puts you at higher risk for experiencing trauma.

Also as mentioned briefly, high cortisol is very very bad for your body when it's prolonged. That by itself puts you at higher risk for developing certain conditions without even touching anything else. There is also that certain types of trauma that you might not necessarily expect cause chronic pain, do, very very directly. Like C/SA can cause chronic pelvic pain.

There's lots of factors basically, some of it genetic, some of it direct physical damage from physical trauma, some of it being physical damage you sustain from prolonged traumatic reactions, some of it has to do more with things that tend to coincide with trauma and chronic conditions like poverty, some of it tends to be the chronic condition existed first and by virtue of having a condition it puts you at higher risk for experiencing trauma. The factors also depend largely on the specific condition--for example EDS is Definitely genetic but trauma can play a role.

#there are some interesting studies done on cortisol levels in a mothers hair and the child's likelihood of developing PTSD for example #less that 'mom hair STRESSED = baby inherently has PTSD' and more that Something about higher cortisol levels being passed onto a fetus #can put them at a greater sensitivity to developing a disorder when exposed to trauma #as opposed to what happens to the vast majority of people who experience trauma which is that they never develop any MH conditions at all #resiliency research is so chef's kiss I wish longitudinal studies were funded more #anyway I know this doesn't have studies linked but this was pretty broad #you can google any specifics I mentioned though and you'll find plenty like on CSA and pelvic pain #if I tried to cite everything here it would be a research paper #ask #transmascanine

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definitely-not-so-pogi · 3 months

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WTF? PUTANGINA?

Okay, so account manager/PR ako sa isang startup fucking company na PH/EU based for 3 months. Individual Contributor/Consultant ako. 3 months akong di binabayaran kasi need ko maka-close ng 4 projects and 4 clients. Just to give an idea kung magkano yung pay per project or client closed:

34,000.00 sa project

34,000.00 + 5,000.00 sa client

Okay so recently nakapag close na ako ng 2 or 3 clients and 3 projects. Tapos may discovery call pa ako sa 15 clients buong march and april kaya i was expecting money talaga.

Then kanina, chineck ko yung GC namin sa whatsapp kasi nagtataka ako bakit super tahimik and walang pumapasok sa weekly huddle namin. Pagkatingin ko.

Nagulat ako kasi wala na ako sa GC? HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA PUTANGINA? tapos chineck ko yung IG, Linkedin, and Tiktok accounts namin, nawalan na din ako ng access hahahahahaha. SO WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?

I'm just a little bit glad kasi naiwan sakin yung Macbook Pro pero putangina hahahahahaha kaya ko bumili ng 3 macbook sa pera na makukuha ko.

PUTANGINANGYAN SCAMMAZ.

#tangina #thoughts #prsnl

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milkyetoile · 3 months

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I've confused myself with my own Fandom Trumps Hate offer lol so I thought I'd make a new post. Please see below for my FTH offers and refer to the listing post for further details.

OFFER #1 Fandoms: Good Omens, Merlin, or original work Length: 5-10K words Highest Rating: M

OFFER #2 Fandoms: Any (including original work) Length: 3K words for fandoms I'm familiar with, 1.5K for fandoms I don't know Highest Rating: T

For examples of my podfics, you can refer to my AO3 profile here:

Please see under the cut for a list of fandoms I can do up to 3K words for:

Artemis Fowl (book ONLY ohmygod) Back to Back (musical series) Card Captor Sakura (only until 2nd movie, I haven't watched Clear Card yet) Chanters of Tremaris Trilogy Club Slazy Dear Evan Hansen (musical only - idk if the movie has differences) Detective Conan/Magic Kaito (separately or not at this point; I'm honestly so behind but idc LET'S GO) Diamond no Ace Dimension 20: A Crown of Candy (/cries) Dimension 20: Misfits & Magic* Doctor Who (New Who; I've only watched until start of Twelve but I'm familiar enough with the succeeding parts) Fullmetal Alchemist Frozen (movie and musical) Gensoumaden Saiyuki Good Omens Hadestown Hamilton Harry Potter (original series & Marauders era)* Howl's Moving Castle (book or movie) Idolish7 In the Heights Kyou Kara Maou! Legally Blonde (movie and musical) Marvel (mainly Avengers until Endgame) Mean Girls (movies and musical) Merlin Mula Sa Buwan Naruto (original until Shippuden maybe) Ouran High School Host Club Percy Jackson and the Olympians (original book series and TLT musical - haven't watched the TV series yet and the movies do not exist--) Phantom of the Opera (musical) Pokemon Prince of Tennis (The) Prom (musical and movie) Sherlock Holmes (ACD, BBC, Enola Holmes, RDJ movies) Spies Are Forever (TCB) StarKid: A Very Potter Musical* StarKid: Firebringer StarKid: Holy Musical B@man! StarKid: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals+ StarKid: Twisted Tiger and Bunny Tolkien (LOTR and The Hobbit movies) Usagi Restaurant Walang Aray Wicked (book and musical)

* If you're requesting these fandoms, please make a donation towards the Sherlock’s Homes Foundation or organizations that support transgender rights. + I'm honestly willing to go 3K words for any Hatchetfield verse. Or pretty much any StarKid that I can easily watch. The rest are on my list of to watch anyway. The same goes for other Dimension 20 seasons except maybe Fantasy High, which is ongoing and now very long. I'm only just working my way through the shorter ones ok 😂

Thank you very much for your consideration and donations <3

#fth 2024 #fandom trumps hate 2024 #podfic offer #podfic #Milky_Etoile

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villains-lounge · 11 months

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CONTRIBUTOR LINEUP!! 🔥🔥

SUSS excited na mi mag-announce sa contributor lineup nato!! These consist of amazing and talented artists, writers, and cosplayers who will be working on our Filipino TWST Tadhana Zine! Please give em' a warm welcome and check out their social media!

This post was way overdue but do look out as we will be posting check-in 2 previews next week! (classified Tumblr only information?!?!)

PAGE ARTISTS!!

MERCH ARTISTS!!

WRITERS!!

COSPLAYERS!!

We hope you look forward to the previews leading up to its physical release!!

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland zine #twst #Twisted Wonderland but make it Filipino #Twst fanmade content #Twisted Wonderland Filipino Au #mga kabayan this is it HAHAHA #havent talked in tumblr tags since 2016 oml

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archiebuns · 7 months

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I think you mentioned the hc about him having a kid at a young age before, I'd love to hear the lore on that so pls elaborate!

Alright TW FOR SA AND RELIGIOUS TRAUMA

Kinji used to be a deacon in his old church on the town he grew up in, the church was old minded in some aspects, these people still believed in the idea of arranged marriages, and Kinji was partnered up with someone, who wasn't the best person, he was forced into acts he didn't wanted sometimes, such as over the top comments, unwanted touches, etc. But he thought those things weren't so bad, since, after all it was "God's plan", this person was good enough to hide all this malicious acts from their parents which didn't raised alarms.

Kinji was forced into sexual acts, and when his parents found out they demanded this person and their family out, but they declined since they were long contributors and they didn't seemed to understand the problem, in their eyes "Kinji was just abiding his duties as a future partner". They were not gonna allow anything else to happen to their son so they moved. From congregation and from town, to help Kinji get better and heal, during this time the church and the Uehara family was aware that Kira was on the way.

It took some time for Kinji to regain trust in his own faith for God, but he understood that all the things that happened to him weren't cause God wanted it that way, he was a victim and he was allowed to feel pain and be angry at them, not God, he was lurked into a fake faith. When Kira was born he at first preferred to make others believe she was her little sister, and let her mom take care of her most of the time, but soon he began to love her more and more until he wasn't ashamed to tell the world he had a daughter (if they asked), he knew it wasn't her fault anything that he went through, and it would be wrong to blame her (he never did), she was Kinji's good rescued from the bad. And even though there's scars still left from that last relationship he doesn't regret having Kira.

#danganronpa #fanganronpa #danganronpa another #fangame #kinji uehara #sdra2

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nice2meetyouu · 11 months

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May interim manager kami since naka-leave 'yung manager talaga. Nag-one-on-one kami kahapon pero nasayangan ako sa time and effort. He asked about challenges and I answered honestly pero he shot me down and in summary, told me to bear with it. I didn't feel anything in particular—I wasn't mad, I wasn't sad—and it's possible to interpret his words as a kind advice.

Pero today I was thinking, what would really benefit us is for the managers to be axed, and to reorganize the teams. Haha. I can't find it in myself to look up to these people with a greater earning potential but don't contribute to the work that we do. Baka alam nila how to manage, but I don't see or feel it. I don't feel supported at all. It would be better to have leaders who know well what we work on, how we do things... someone from the inside. Unfortunately, we had this kind of boss but she resigned due to being overworked.

I remember the story no'ng nakabalik daw si Steve Jobs sa Apple and fired all the middle managers. Sana nga sa skill na lang nakabase ang pagiging promoted. Hindi lahat ng magaling na contributor eh fit sa leadership roles, pero I don't want to be led by people na walang alam and understanding sa ginagawa namin.

#work

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thesubtleartofenglish · 4 months

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English needs no introduction at this point. This language is understandable to a wide range of individuals from different nations, whether or not it is innate. It is undeniable that those who are exposed to this language in their early years will continue to speak it at their highest fluency levels as they become older and will also likely acquire higher competence levels because of their early exposure. But the question is, what distinguishes individuals who acquired fluency in English from those who did not? Thinking back on my English-speaking cousins has inspired me to research the variations in English language skills among people, hence my decision to delve into the underlying aspects of this topic.

As soon as I started noticing two of my cousins, I developed an interest in learning more about the variations in English proficiency. Although they come from different backgrounds—my parents' sides—both of them can speak this language fluently, to the point where they can converse with native speakers. I could even go as far as to say that they are comparatively on par with native speakers. One of them, Sean Colbie, 14, has been speaking English since nursery, and his continuous exposure to different English cartoons during his early years helped him significantly develop. Her mother found out that his son has a strong fondness for watching Cartoon Network at the age of six. This became apparent when he was in first grade, and from then on he became even more committed to watching foreign shows. “Mga around Grade 1, lagi lagi na siyang nanunuod ng mga cartoons. Mostly in English. Sinusubaybayan niya almost every day yung channel na Cartoon Network, dahil ‘dun na-adapt niya yung mga dialogues na naririnig niya sa mga shows na napapanuod niya sa T.V. (Around Grade 1, he always watched cartoons. Mostly in English. He follows the Cartoon Network channel almost every day, and that's where he adapted the dialogues he hears in the shows he watches on T.V.).”

Moreover, Sean’s fondness for speaking in English was further strengthened and reinforced the moment he was introduced to his phone, which he often uses to access YouTube and Facebook, among other media platforms. In that regard, watching videos that are hosted by English native speakers has become his pleasure, which has helped him develop toward fluency in the language. There is no denying that media consumption can significantly contribute to one’s communicative progress. Research on how media intake affects English competence is still under progress, yet some studies point to certain advantages. For example, a study discovered that using social media in English can improve learners' proficiency in the language since it offers interactive content, visual components, and communication and learning opportunities. Another study indicated that social media usage positively affects learners' understanding of English as much as it enhances their comprehension of the language and may help them become more proficient in vocabulary, listening, and general language usage. While it may seem like a pivotal contributor to one’s proficiency in English, I don’t intend to digress.

After all, Sean’s ability to speak English has greatly benefited from the impact of YouTubers like PewDiePie, Markiplier, and Matthew Patrick of The Game Theorists. These media personalities encouraged him to speak English more frequently until he was able to do so fluently. “Sa dami ng napapanuod niya sa YouTube and Facebook, naging natural na lang sa kanya ‘yung pagsasalita in English, almost to the point na hindi na siya nagta-Tagalog. It’s never been an issue for us though. Proud naman kami na natutunan niya ‘yung English mostly by himself (With the amount of time he has been watching on YouTube and Facebook, speaking in English has become natural to him, almost to the point that he no longer speaks Tagalog. It's never been an issue for us though. We are proud that he learned English mostly by himself).”

The same can be observed with my 12-year-old cousin, Eumi, who's on my father’s side. But instead of acquiring the language naturally, she was intentionally taught by her mother on a regular basis, which is how she acquired fluency in English at such a young age. “Actually akala ko namana niya yung ganoong skill niya sa papa niya. It was until I remembered na ako pala nagturo sa kanya na mag Ingles. Even before bago siya maging talkative, talagang tinarget ko si Eumi na matuto mag-English. English mode yan kaming dalawa every time na magba-bonding kami. Kahit si Vince, nire-remind ko talaga na mag-English ‘pag kakausapin si Eumi. Mandatory datingan, ganun. Tipong makaka-encounter lang kami ng words sa bahay, actually anywhere, mapa-phone, T.V., posters, sa malls, pinapabigkas ko ‘yan kay Eumi. As much as possible, ine-encourage ko siya na mag-read. Read, read, read, read, read, read, tina-try ko talagang ma-push si Eumi sa pagbabasa since appropriate naman din talaga yung pagbabasa sa children natin. Anybody her age should be encouraged to read textbooks, stories, kahit yung simple alphabetical posters, lahat ‘yan very advisable sa kapwa parents natin, especially for the sake of their kids’ growth and development (Actually I thought she inherited that skill from her father. It was until I remembered that I taught her to speak English. Even before she became talkative, I really targeted Eumi to learn English. It's English mode for both of us every time we bond. Even Vince, I really reminded him to speak English when talking to Eumi. Every time we encounter English words at home, actually anywhere, phones, T.V., posters, in malls, I make Eumi pronounce them. As much as possible, I encouraged her to read. Read, read, read, read, read, read, I was really trying to push Eumi to read since reading is really appropriate for our children. Anyone her age should be encouraged to read textbooks, stories, even simple alphabetical posters, all of which is very advisable to our fellow parents, especially for the sake of their kids' growth and development).”

Now that I clarified where this assessment ultimately stems from, it is obvious that Eumi and Sean are the sole reason I became curious about the difference between attaining fluency in English during the early years and attaining it during the later stages in life. There is very little difference between their fluency levels when compared to one another, and their natural usage of this language only continues to evolve as they get older and mature. With that being said, my curiosity then prompted me to harp on the belief that their natural acquisition and gradual improvement of speaking in English have something to do with the critical period in a child's learning development, especially in light of the fact that they gradually gained fluency in this language from infancy and childhood to adolescence.

Becoming advanced with learning a language can have a significant impact on how well you grasp its usage eventually. This is where the critical period in a child's learning development takes effect since it is a biologically determined stage where the child is supposed to be optimally ready to acquire certain skills. Based on its definition, this period is associated with brain plasticity and is characterized by the highest potential for learning and development. The critical period is generally considered to occur in the early years of a child's life, from birth to around the age of five. It is crucial to learn language, vision, hearing, and other skills during this period because it is when the brain is particularly responsive to learning and the development of neural connections. This relates to how they developed their English language skills in a manner similar to that of native speakers, which is particularly clear given that they were exposed to the language from an early age. One of them, as I mentioned earlier, picked up English organically by watching different English-language cartoons, let alone the fact that he was instructed to communicate in English with everyone around him, including his family. To a certain degree, his family has some influence in how he developed his natural fluency in the language, and that is largely due to the fact that they decided to speak to him in English for as long as they could, primarily in an effort to help him become a native English speaker from birth.

Despite the fact that Eumi learnt the fundamentals of the language from her parents, she has also benefited from viewing English cartoons and speaking to everyone in English. The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) developed by Noam Chomsky is a factor that sets Eumi and Sean apart from the rest of our cousins. It is a theoretical concept that suggests the existence of a biological structure in the human brain that enables children to acquire language. Chomsky proposed that children are born with an innate ability to understand and generate language, and the LAD serves as a universal grammar processor, which allows them to grasp the complexities of language through exposure and interaction. Based on the manner in which Sean developed his preference for speaking English in his early years, youngsters may be able to progress in their English proficiency in a manner that will allow them to do so in the future. However, with Eumi, that isn't mostly the case. She learnt the language more intentionally and didn't pick it up naturally. Even if her education can be whittled down to homeschooling and tutorials, her parents have given her enough guidance that she has become incredibly proficient in English when speaking to others. She began with the fundamentals, as did Sean, who also started with basic words and sentence structures before expanding his vocabulary and growing more accustomed to speaking the language at such a young age.

All things considered, we can argue that learning to speak English in the early phases of human development, from birth to childhood, can aid non-native speakers like me in adapting and achieving higher levels of proficiency and fluency than those who are only beginning to learn it during their adolescent years. It is true that early development is more critical than later development, whether or not it takes work to understand the fundamentals of English communication during the adolescent years, and this is especially evident when you are learning the English language for communicative purposes.

REFERENCES & SOURCES:

Ohwovoriole, T. (2023, July 25). Critical period in brain development: definition, importance. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/critical-period-in-brain-development-definition-importance-7556041

Levels of learning a language – Mango languages. (2023, March 16). https://mangolanguages.com/resources-articles/levels-of-learning-a-language/

Sriram, R. (2020, June 24). Why ages 2-7 matter so much for brain development. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/why-ages-2-7-matter-so-much-brain-development/

Cisneros-Franco, J. M., Voss, P., Thomas, M. E., & De Villers-Sidani, É. (2020). Critical periods of brain development. In Handbook of Clinical Neurology (pp. 75–88). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-444-64150-2.00009-5

Jones, M. (2021, April 13). English Proficiency levels: A guide to determining your level. SpeakUp Resources. https://magoosh.com/english-speaking/english-proficiency-levels-a-guide-to-determining-your-level/

Vipond, T. (2023, October 25). Language proficiency levels. Corporate Finance Institute. https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/career/language-proficiency-levels/

Dore, R. A., Logan, J., Lin, T., Purtell, K. M., & Justice, L. M. (2020). Associations between children’s media use and language and literacy skills. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01734

Arulchelvan, P. (2019). Social media usage among English language learners in Primary School. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/6437/643770323033/html/

Muftah, M. (2022). Impact of social media on learning English language during the COVID-19 pandemic. PSU Research Review. https://doi.org/10.1108/prr-10-2021-0060

#english #proficiency #languageacquisition #languagelearning #earlydevelopment #latedevelopment #nativespeaker #nonnativespeaker #chomsky #fluency

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ajroach42 · 1 year

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Welcome to the new year! I’m glad you made the transfer without incident.

It is my Duty and Privilege to announce the public launch of a project I’ve been working on for the better part of a decade, This is Jupiter’s Ghost! It is a podcast set in the creative commons CC-BY-SA licensed universe of the Solar Federation. It’s a community initative, written and record by a small but growing group of contributors, which you are formally invited to join!

What is Jupiter’s Ghost?

Many things! Jupiter’s Ghost is a podcast (and possibly soon to be a cartoon from New Ellijay Television) set in the universe of the Solar Federation It’s a big universe against which lots of science fiction stories can be told, and it is my hope that Jupiter’s Ghost is the first of many.

Why is Jupiter’s Ghost?

The simple answer is that I’ve always wanted to tell hopeful stories about the future, and the crew of the Jupiter’s Ghost gets to exist in a world that, while still imperfect, is much better than our own. It gives me a chance to tell stories about how the world might be, if we work together, and how Freedom is a Constant Struggle, not something we reach, but something that we continue to reach for.

Basically, it gives me a chance to tell stories in a way that aligns with my values.

Please give it a listen, subscribe, review us on iTunes and Stitcher and Spotify and, eventually, when Google decides we’re worth indexing, Google Podcasts.

Share it with your friends, consider participating in the universe. Help us turn this in to something special.

That’s the meat of the post, but if you want to stick around I’m going to talk about what we’ve done, and why we’ve done it, and what we’re going to do next.

Like I said at the top, I started working on this thing nearly a decade ago. It before we closed Analog Revolution’s first physical location, before we moved across the country, before we moved back, and moved back, and moved back again. The current iteration of the thing entered the planning phases on the fediverse circa 2016, and then So Much life happened.

Thankfully, I have some great collaborators, and we’ve got it going. So let’s talk about what and why.

Why CC-BY-SA?

Jupiter’s Ghost is creative commons licensed, which means that anyone is free to share it, adapt it, remix it, or contribute to it. It’s specifically CC-BY-SA licensed, which means that if anyone does remix it, adapt it, etc. they are required to release their adaptation under the same terms. They don’t need my permission, approval, or support. They can, you can, just do it.

This was an intentional decision, and one carefully made to align with my values, but it has been a point of confusion for some folks so far, so let me unpack it.

I have written in the past about my appreciate of DIY Media and Fan Fiction, and the need for more creative works from normal people. I won’t rehash those things here, but the gist is that most of our modern collective folklore, the stories we tell one another and use to relate to the universe, are owned by Disney and a small handful of other companies and they use this position of power and control to harm us.

On this, Public Domain Day 2023, I invite you to consider the cautionary tale of Star Trek New Voyages. New Voyages should be a shining beacon of DIY Media. For those who are unfamiliar, it’s a fan series that imagines and recreates the rest of the Five Year Mission of the original Enterprise. It was a wildly ambitious project that dramatically improves in overall quality as it progresses, and it was made possible by the labor, skill, and creativity of a huge community of people.

and in 2016, Paramount decided it was illegal.

This is their prerogative as the owners of the “Intellectual Property” that is Star Trek under modern copyright law, but it stung. It stung even more when I discovered recently that there were Three finished episodes in post production and Crew on set Filming another episode when they ruling was handed down. Those episodes will never be released, they are lost, they are empty space in history. We are terrible stewards of history and Copyright makes it worse.

Now, I can imagine many of those reading this rolling their eyes at the idea that something of value was lost here. “Don’t want your project to be shut down? Don’t use someone else’s IP!” I can imagine you saying, and if our Copyright system was at all sensible, I could understand that argument, but it isn’t. Our copyright terms are too long, and they’re stifling and restrictive.

So, here’s Jupiter’s Ghost. Here’s The Solar Federation. Here’s a big open universe with Spaceships and Aliens and history and a future, in to which any number of stories can be positioned. You can use it however you want, as long as you credit us, and give back to the commons.

Now yes, it’s wildly optimistic to think that anything like Star Trek New Voyages would ever exist for our little old podcast, but it’s legal, it’s allowed, it’s possible, and it’s encouraged. That’s a better model for how copyright might exist and it’s a way we can live our values while producing media that reflects what we believe.

#Jupiters ghost #Creative Commons #Star Trek #fanfic #podcast

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coochiequeens · 1 year

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Chinese men: “Why aren’t women having kids?” Chinese women: “Aren’t we getting poorer with each child we have?”

28-year-old Joy Yu’s parents each had three siblings. As they were growing up in the 1970s, the Chinese government started to limit the number of babies born.

Government statistics show on average a woman in China went from having about three babies in the late 1970s to just one.

Four decades on, China’s leaders are asking women to have three children again, which doesn’t sit well for Yu, an only child.

“For me to give birth to three children, my future husband must be rich enough to make sure I can live well without a job. This is a big challenge,” Yu said.

Last year, China’s population dropped for the first time in six decades by 850,000. That still leaves the country with 1.41 billion people but if the decline continues, there will be multiple impacts on the economy.

One-child policy

China began enforcing birth limits in the late 1970s when the country was poor and there were too many mouths to feed.

In a Chinese propaganda film called the Disturbance of Gan Quan Village, the birth restrictions were justified on economic grounds.

“We should put our energy into getting rich rather than keep having children,” says one woman in the film.

She’s sitting among a group of women picking corn kernels off the cob. “Aren’t we getting poorer with each child we have,” she says. The rest of the group nods in agreement.

Chinese leaders enforced, sometimes brutally, the so-called one-child policy in 1979, just as the country was coming out of the tumultuous Cultural Revolution.

“The post-[Chairman] Mao leadership thought that economic development would be the new basis for the party’s political legitimacy and based on pseudo-scientific and demographic projections, limiting birth to one child per married heterosexual couple,” said Yun Zhou, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Michigan.

There were exceptions. Some ethnic minority groups could have up to three children. People from rural areas could try for a second child if their first-born was not a boy. Later, if both parents had no siblings they could have two children. Starting in 2016, China raised the birth limit for everyone to two children, but there was no sustained baby bump.

Obstacles

Yu said she had opportunities her parents never had because she grew up without siblings. She attended one of China’s top colleges and her parents are able to help her with a down payment on a pricey property in Shanghai if she so desires.

Still, Yu said over an Italian meal in Shanghai, she is not even sure she wants to get married or have children.

Raising children in China is expensive. Also, the work of raising children, like in many countries, falls disproportionately on women. Those demands would be hard to juggle with China’s long work hours. A six-day work week is standard in many sectors.

Other people have complained of being penalized in the workplace for being mothers.

“Women are being forced back to the home to increase births. It is like my body isn’t mine.”

Only-child, Joy Yu

Global impact

Fewer people might mean slower growth in China, which will be felt by the U.S. and beyond.

“They’ve now become, you know, the center of the global manufacturing superhighway and are typically the largest contributor to growth every year,” said Scott Kennedy with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C.

Chinese officials often credit the so-called one-child policy for preventing over 400 million births, but some analysts say China’s population would have declined regardless.

“It’s just simply a rule across all countries, that as you urbanize, and as you get a more educated female population that enters the workforce, fertility numbers fall,” Kennedy said.

China’s birth restrictions merely sped up that trend and made the fertility rate drop dramatically and unevenly. The traditional preference for boys in Chinese families combined with the birth limits and ease of access to abortion has led to a massive gender imbalance.

Chinese government statistics show in 2020 for every 100 women there are 105 men, whereas the global ratio is one-to-one.

Attempted incentives

To encourage more births, the Chinese government has dangled a mix of carrots and sticks — cash incentives, tax breaks, pledging to lower the cost of children’s education, and making it harder for couples to divorce.

“Now, the government organizes matchmaking events, and it’s a mission just like when it enforced the one-child policy. This is so terrifying,” Yu said. “Women are being forced back to the home to increase births. It is like my body isn’t mine.”

A backdrop of gendered violence

Sometimes, the government is asked to step in, but officials are instead accused of a cover up.

For example, when a woman was found chained up in a far-flung village after having given birth to eight children, it triggered a discussion on human trafficking. But efforts by local journalists and concerned citizens to verify the details of this woman’s life independently have been repeatedly blocked by local officials. That includes an attempt by pioneering lawyer Li Zhuang earlier this year. He wrote a post about the difficulties he encountered, which was later deleted.

In northern China’s Tangshan city, a group of men savagely beat some women at a restaurant. The incident provoked a public outcry and while officials have punished the men and dismissed some police officers, the women have not been seen in public since. Officials were accused of suppressing the discussion about violence against women.

Even women in wealthy cities like Shanghai said they could identify with the victims in the reports.

“Those reports encapsulate a sense of gendered precarity that speaks to women in [a] deeply patriarchal and gender unequal society,” social demographer Zhou said.

Economic costs

The number of Chinese workers is already declining; according to the World Bank, in 2001, China had 10 workers to support one retiree.

“In 2020, that was down to five working folks for each retiree and by 2050 it’ll be down to two,” Kennedy said.

He believes China still has time to offset the effects of population decline, including by boosting productivity, increasing the retirement age and lifting restrictions on people from rural areas to freely settle in cities with their families.

“I don’t think the problem has become so severe that demography is destiny, and China is destined to radically slow down and its chances of becoming an economic superpower breaking out of the middle income trap have been dashed,” Kennedy said.

“[But] these are pretty significant challenges.”

#China #birth rate #One child policy #Educated women and birth rates #Men bitching about less births without doing anything to make it easier on women to have babies #Maybe start having parenting classes for men

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