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pridewhatpride · 3 years

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ok so I read your view on GX rivalshipping and how things would get messy when johan shows up because I was curious about another GX rivalshippers opinion, and holy you and I have the EXACT same thoughts.

Ive went on and on about how manjoume as a rival (and as someone who could have had the ability to support judai) was tossed aside as soon as johan shows up + turned into the comedic relief chara and nobody ever really knows what the hell im talking about LOL. a big thing for me is just how DIFFERENT that would be for manjoume as well? in the seasons before johan shows up judai is so clingy towards him, always busting into his room and being in his personal space...

then mr. buff arms big smile shows up with his frilly lilac blouse and homo dragon and suddenly judai is like. smitten. which like youve pointed- out who could blame judai? johan is hard to hate and hes kind of perfect in every way. I always imagine what that would do to manjoumes self esteem in particular, because as we all know it IS a bit fragile at times, especially when it comes to being the best he can be.

I think having johan around would make him feel absolutely insignificant not only as someone who LIKES judai, but even just as judais friend. is he really so horrible at being a support that judai needs a stranger to lean on? even though he never asked for judais help much, is he really such a burden when he needs to be saved? why is judai acting like hes never been able to connect with manjoume, who can also see duel spirits, before? whoever said opposites attract obviously havent seen judai and johan! thoughts like that.

I could go on and on but I dont want you to have to read my 2746373 word long ask about them. id love to hear any thought or analysis you have on GX rivalshipping because its my favourite and the shippers are so rare, so I encourage you to post them whenever you feel like it!

Dear anon.

You can't ever know just how happy receiving this in my inbox made me. I can't fully express how grateful I am at the simple fact that you read my long rambles and reached out to me. I respect your anonimity if you want to keep it, but honestly, DM me whenever, if you want to. I think I'd like to talk to you if you're comfortable with it? I really do want to read your "2746373 word" essay on them. For the rest of my life.

I might get a little personal in terms of my view on this, so just... be aware.

The thing is that the way Manjoume is cast aside is just... a big fear of mine. "Sure, we might be friends now, but I'm not all that good and you know it. You won't mean any harm by it, but you'll find someone you like better and I'll be alone again." That kind of line of thought is probably something that goes through Manjoume's mind? He doesn't really... have friends outside of Judai. Maybe Fubuki. And Daichi? Except he disappears into nothingness very quickly. But that's it. And he certainly had none before that: just lackeys who pretended to like him because he was rich and perceived as promising. He lost that and suddenly found himself isolated.

It's nice to think that he bonded with the other members of the gang, but... he didn't. Shou certainly never really stops disliking/making fun of him. You could say it's meant as like... friendly teasing. But it doesn't read that way because there is nothing to indicate actual affection. Kenzan, Aster and the transfer students just... barely interact with him? Like have they actually ever spoken to eachother? I doubt it. Ryo is just the admirable upperclassman. Again, barely any interaction. Asuka is... a mess I don't want to get into, but again, she would probably file a restraining order if she could.

So yeah. Manjoume has one friend and the taller and cooler guy just kind of takes that away. Of course Johan is not aware of this! He wouldn't have been able to do much to change it, either way. It was Judai's own choice and that's what hurts the most, to me.

If shifting the focus and making minor changes to canon is something you like to do, here's a thing I think about a lot. "Teardrop", the Season 3 opening, except it's what Manjoume feels when seeing Judai's suffering and desperation. You know.

As you hang your head and smile, a single tear lands on your cheeks

You pretend to be strong, but underneath You’re hiding sighs; your smile is cloudy It sticks into me Like shattered glass

It’s OK to talk about the pain in your heart

Your smile Has always saved me You can cry now I’ll stay here with you

I can't bring myself to blame Judai or Johan for it, but I think Manjoume- if he'd been written like an actual character past a certain point- would have been quite devastated by this.

As you said, it's not just being abandoned, it's also being indirectly told that he was never truly someone worthwhile, that he is little more than extra weight. What of his supposed status of equal rival and all that? Nothing. Judai is just... on a different level than him. So Manjoume is simply left to stagger behind in a desperate attempt to chase after greatness. He wasn't good enough for his brothers and Judai stood up for him. But in the end he wasn't good enough for Judai either.

I like to think that Manjoume made an effort to get along with the others. He just didn't quite know how and couldn't just... switch off his more prideful persona. And he ended up paying quite the steep price.

I know I'm extra melodramatic when it comes to my favourites, but it's something that bugs me. I understand why the manga decided to approach Manjoume's character in a completely different way and it's the reason why I like to read Manjoume's personality as a mix of manga and anime canon. I really have to mention this- how can one even pretend that the writers gave a shit about Manjoume when they joked about how stinky he was in a scene that could have been... emotional in some way. Judai frees Manjoume from the influence of the Society of Light by reminding him who he really is (I don't want to talk about Kenzan being too strong to be manipulated because that is fucking stupid and besically the equivalent of saying "ahah, the light got you because you're not strong willed enough @ Asuka @ Manjoume. Get rekt"). And like... great! They are actually showing off how much they care for eachother as friends despite the rivalry! But no. Judai ends up basically saying: "You smell and your coat has stains on it!" and Manjoume's just: "Oh yeah, I'm goth I hate wearing white, nvm."

... I swear someone on the writing team looked at Manjoume and went: "Let's bully him!" Ugh ;; Can you tell I'm hyper biased towards Manjoume yet?

This was hilarious to read, by the way: "mr. buff arms big smile shows up with his frilly lilac blouse and homo dragon"

But yes, this mess is now officially over. I will be spouting gx rivalshipping nonsense left and right because we were robbed of their dynamic and I'll never get over that. Also I really want to draw them, so that helps.

Ending this post by saying that this ask made me feel like I didn't waste time writing all that, that someone can get something out of it. I'm really glad.

#ygo #yugioh #ygo gx #yugioh gx #manjoume jun #jun manjoume #chazz princeton #judai yuki #yuki judai #jaden yuki #gx rivalshipping #marry me platonically anon #i will kill for your happiness

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vaguely-concerned · 3 years

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The Mandalorian Chapter 15 reactions; *nobby nobbs voice* ‘s all gone a bit percychological, sir

- so from both chapter 6 and now this: rick famuyiwa is incredible at portraying prolonged discomfort and tension (and also at getting din’s endless love for that baby across through the stress of being separated from him. this is the very first episode with no baby in it at all, isn’t it? wow that’s a heartbreaking milestone to reach im crying)

I liked this episode SO MUCH but I had to pause it pretty often and take a breather because it all made me so viscerally uncomfortable on din’s behalf -- not just the armour and having to take the helmet off and be seen for the (almost, ilu IG-11) first time in decades, people keep touching him in this episode when he clearly doesn’t want them to but can’t stop it and it makes me want to claw my own skin off in sympathy, it’s so awful. that’s really neat film making to manage to keep that tension steady almost all the way through!!!

honestly this episode felt a little bit like psychological horror, with the cheering storm troopers and din in the wrong armour and clearly not digging it and there’s the palpable absence of baby and that ever present dread of being Perceived when you’re not ready for it; everything’s turned upside down from how it should be. and it’s playing with that discomfort both in the main character and in us, the audience, in having the familiar be made unfamiliar and also introducing these questions that shake up everything (that feeling you get of ‘but... if it’s not the helmet, and not the armour, but there’s his face, but we’ve only seen that face once before so it’s still basically new to us, is this... is this still him. is this still Dad’ (oooh I wonder if we’re... sort of getting some of the ??? the baby would be feeling about it too?) we’ve all imprinted on that t-shaped visor like little baby birds, and this was a very clever episode to break us out of that and start to really get used to the thought of him having several faces that are real simultaneously, in a way, and not just a voice. it’s all very smart and interesting and I’m sure I’ll have a lot of incoherent thoughts about this in the weeks to come lol)

- the actual reason din can’t take off the helmet is that if people were able to see his wide confused puppy eyes they would no longer find it in themselves to send him on long arduous side missions and would help him immediately just so he’d feel better, and that would rob us of like 80% of the content for this show

mayfeld in this episode: clearly a casualty of this. he literally sees one glimpse of the vulnerability there and then within five seconds goes on to materialize a few redeeming character traits after being a complete jackass for an episode and a half. (I mean. he was 100% still an imperial so I’m a bit ‘hm.’ about how easily especially cara let him off the hook, but with the way it was set up I guess it would have been quite shitty of them to just throw him back in prison so I mean I GUESS. I would be endlessly grateful someone got my awkward bff out of there alive and well too I suppose)

- I actually think din’s sense/integrity of self has gotten so much stronger and more resilient (though probably still quite fragile pls handle with care precious cargo within); if this had happened in the first season I think it might honestly just have killed him (and if it weren’t for IG-11 it probably would have lol)

- can you beLIEVE din is so bad at lying that they literally should plan for contingencies over it fjkasdlhfskajdhfsdj

- very grateful for the scene with the spear throw that’s basically there to reassure us ‘uh-huh, he absolutely knows how to use it, don’t worry about that part at least’

I want to make a whole post about that fight scene, though, it’s just so GOOD! there’s so much storytelling and characterization in it! even out of the armour din has some real hand to hand MOVES!! he clearly came out of that aching all over, he can barely get back in his seat!!!

- so what I’m mainly taking away from this is that din absolutely cuts his own hair and you know what? he does a good job considering the conditions he has to work under, I love him

I still find it so goddamn darling that he meticulously maintains that little mustache/stubble combo under there even when there’s every reason to believe no one will ever see it

I suppose we can also gather that he did not ask cobb about whatever insane feat of magic he’s come up with to avoid helmet hair, but I don’t care looking a bit frazzled and tousled is exactly right for him (he’s so put together when he’s in the armour and a MESS when he’s out of it and I l o v e it)

- boba fett is honestly so fucking hot in this I don’t know what to do with myself haha. he’s so CALM and CALCULATED and COLLECTED in his newly painted armour and he’s GOT THIS and he made that ‘I’ve got one of those faces. one of jango’s many, many, many faces’ joke and he’s so thicc now, he looks like he could easily lift me over his head with one hand and he’s just quietly steady and undramatically supportive and sdalfhsdjhfsa

- ...din does know who the clone troopers were, right. I mean of course he does. he has to. but does he though. I’m sure he does and just wasn’t thinking.

- no matter how stressful it was I’m still really grateful that in the end taking the helmet off was something din got to do himself -- it’s under some duress, but it’s still his choice and for the sake of the baby, and almost in two more manageable steps between putting on the storm trooper gear for a different helmet before taking it off altogether. it’s not something done to him by gideon, for example, that would be. so much yuckier and worse. he still has that control and agency intact, even if it’s been tested really hard, and now gideon doing that doesn’t hold the exact same nightmarish power anymore because there’s already a little space opened in din’s mind for different things it can mean, if you see what I mean. I’m not sure I see what I mean actually I just have a lot of feelings haha. so I guess thank you mayfeld for being decent about it and helping him towards that realization that he can still be himself outside these really really inflexible structures he’s set up around himself for like. stability and keeping himself upright for a really long time, and that even someone halfway decent won’t disrespect the boundaries he still has about it at any given moment. man there’s a lot in this episode isn’t there

- the sigh din gave when he saw even more pirates coming and knew he had to get back up... never has a single moment in cinema better captured how I feel about being alive. most relatable man in the world din djarin

- it was really cruel of them to make me listen to din’s dead bleak voice say ‘the child is gone’ again, it wrecks my heart every goddamn time

- again... I wish carano wasn’t Like That in real life because the cara & fennec scenes should have been everything I could ever dream. ah well fennec was still wonderful and if I just allow myself to think in-universe for a few seconds it was really touching that din would entrust cara with his entire armour, that’s some prime BrOTP energy right there

I love that we got two female characters who were just allies and working together, no competition or nothin’. listen the bar is low but it’s nice to see something actually leap gracefully over it as well lol

- this was one of those with some pretty big open plot holes (why, exactly, would a scan of a completely unknown face be helpful to get into this classified system lol), but a) I don’t care, the emotional storyline was so sound it doesn’t really matter and b) eh handwave handwave let’s say mayfeld programmed that little stick with the good shit and overrode the code saying there needed to be an identity match within the system, it’s all fine

- I know I joke a lot about this but din really is one of the most relatable characters I’ve ever had. just watching him struggle with eye contact and going pretty much nonverbal under enough stress is like. wow a bit close to home there could we, perhaps, nOT?? (honestly though these are trauma/anxiety things I really don’t see portrayed a lot, especially in protagonists, it’s so odd but healing to see it in a character I love and who’s EXTREMELY competent in many other settings)

- din repeating gideon’s speech back to him word for word (except for the crucial detail that he calls grogu ‘him’ instead of ‘it’ 😭😭😭) and saying nothing else is truly Everything. I’ve said some stuff about din’s deliberate and thoughtful relationship to language in the past and this is such an amazing example of it; he’s remembered that pitch perfect all this time, he’s kept it around in his head and mulled it over and then redeployed it to change the meaning of it completely from dehumanization to love. can you. can you even imagine. and it’s yet another example of his hilarious wonderful petty streak and I can never get enough of it fasjhdfkjalhs

- din always noticing the children first and foremost Y_______Y (the kids running by is the only thing you see him sort of acknowledge when he’s walking into the covert in season 1 too)

- please... please I just need him to be able to hold that baby against his chest all safe and sound and okay again I can’t it’s........ hh

NO SEASON END CLIFF HANGER ON THIS I AM B E G G I N G YOU

- I would be having some thoughts about how much space there actually is on slave 1 and what that might mean (do not kill boba again please don’t kill him again), but honestly there’s only ‘GET BABY’ hours in here now, I can’t speculate about anything

#star wars #the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #the mandalorian meta #this is an episode in the 'wow that was awesome but I need to go lie down in a quiet room for a while afterwards' tradition lol

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saltyslack-toast · 4 years

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#KnockTheBook : Anne Frank

“The nice Anne is never present in company, hasn’t appeared one single time so far, but always predominates when we’re alone. I know exactly how I’d like to be, but, I’m only like that for myself. And perhaps that’s why, I’m sure it’s the reason why I say I’ve got a happy nature within and why other people think I’ve got a happy nature without. I am guided by the pure Anne within, but outside I’m nothing but a frolicsome little goat who’s broken loose”

I knew this book exist since I was in elementary school it was on the 6th grade I guess. I saw this book in one of the notability book store (re: Books and Beyond) in kinda so-so Bandung Mall (re again: Istana Plaza). I read the behind book preview and my curious ass was really intrigued, that time I didn’t know wtf is holocaust and my English skill was so poor, I mean like still but now its getting better right????? My 11 years old wallet was penniless, so I didn’t buy the book, that’s ok though because book wasn’t the main source of my happiness and I don’t really read much books that age. Many years later, there was BBW Bandung in 2019, and I’m so excited since I started to read quite a lot of books after I’m in college and just like that, I found a gem I’ve been wanting for since I was starting my puberty and now I’m at the edge of my puberty era (STILL COULDN’T MOVE ON FROM MY PUBERTY DAYS, PLEASE CHECK THE PREVIOUS POST OF MINE OR I’LL KILL U! Never mind it was a trash anyway). I’m gonna review this book in a way this book relating my life, because I SWEAR TO GOD Anne Frank is me in 1942 indeed.

Okay let’s cut the shit off of the personal history attached to this book, cause no one cares, no one probably read this master of shit.

The title of the book is “Diary of A Young Girl: Anne Frank” written clearly in the book’s grayish cover and it has a picture of queen Anne herself writing on her diary I suppose?? So it basically Anne frank writing her story and someone took a picture of her posing like she was writing the story and the picture became the cover of her story that she wrote when someone was taking that picture, got it?. The book is published by Wilco Publishing Book in 2013 in Mumbai, India. The book’s price is written on its cover, it was 19.95 in US Dollar and converted to Rupiah approximately worth RP 326.569, please note that I convert this price when USD 1 is worth RP 16.300 (fuck you corona). But don’t worry, if you are going to buy one in BBW the price is 50% cheaper than the original one, omg someone take me to BBW RIGHT.NOW!.

For those who dumb in history but insist to read this history-biography kind of book (WHICH IS STRANGELY CONTRADICTION, like dude u suppose to have good grades in history class if u like this kinda book, but whatevs I don’t judge), chillax there’s gonna be a short sum about what’s happened in WW II and the origin short story of Hitler gon’ mad with his bonkers political party. Also, there is a little summary about Anne’s previous life before she starts writing her diary in that crazy era she’s living. This book is literally her diary, I said diary, it means u could see her recounting her daily activities in a writing book (Except the fact that she named her diary with Kitty and consider it as her friend).

In this book, you are going to meet plenty bold characters. Here I describe few of ‘em that quite memorable for me. First is Queen Anne herself duh! She’s fucking THAT BRIGHT, I mean she was 13 when she wrote the story of her life, loves to read books, emotionally instable just like a mad teenage typical but she really has very unique perspective of how she depict the whole condition when she was in hiding. Second is her fucking family duh!(2), her mummy is weirdly kind of remind me to my mom FOR REAL, both of them were as problematic as her youngest daughter, sensitive, and caring as regular moms out there. Daddy is totally a sweetheart and kind of hard-working just like most of the Jews I guess?? And Margot which is Anne’s older sister, you know that golden child in the family who always be the spotlight in your big family gathering? Yes she is one of the kinds. Not only Anne and her family that is pretty intriguing, but there is also one little family which also joined Anne’s family in hiding, that is Mr. Van Daan Family and all of their dramas *applauding* that is caused by Mrs. Van Daan’s deportment (She’s quiet funny for me though) . There is still a lot amount of characters that is also involved in this book, but you can read the book by yourself its good honey trust me its good and worth it.

I think for the first time I managed to look serious in previous paragraph right?

What’s very interesting to me is how Anne and her mom fighting could be very relatable to all of us. The peak of these fighting dramas was on Friday, April 2nd 1943, when Anne refuses to have her mum took prayers with her, I would say that was truly heart breaking moment. You know the time when you had a huge fight with your mom and you feel so miserable because you disgust the situation where no one was there for you and all you can do is to blame yourself because you love your mom and realized that she got nothing wrong, and what you did is self-loathing all days long, as her mom said,

“I don’t want to be cross, love cannot be forced”

I’m on my fucking tears for reading that sentence, perhaps people that has lots of problem with their life might be understand exactly how it feels, for longing to just vanish from the world because die in all likelihood would still make people around to be distressed because of you? (OMG Ana, u really need stop exposing yourself!). However, after all the fights with her mum, Anne figured out that it’s only the matter of unpleasantness and misery rebounding all the time. She learned that it still much better for hard words on paper than to be carried along with her mum’s heart (it’s a pro tip y’all!).

“Leave me in peace, let me sleep one night at least without my pillow being wet with tears, my eyes burning and my head throbbing. Let me get away from it all, preferably away from the world!”

Anne was hiding for 761 days, of course many things happened and her relationship with Peter (the only son of the Van Daan’s family) is one of the cutest story I liked. Peter was 3 years older than Anne, in my vision he’s the type of nonchalant chap, yet very sweet inside. Started with Ana’s frustration to be alone, ended with having another person other than her family to be talked to. Peter and Anne, after they were close to each other (because they weren’t really get along together at first), they spent most of their times in the attic which is Peter’s basecamp in the annex, talking about life as a teenager and their complicated family before the life in the annex. It kinda remind me of how surviving life becoming the point of how we see each other’s color, Anne had become comfortable to talk with Peter about all her difficulty and so otherwise. Anyway, their fucking love story gonna prompt you to the nostalgia of young love in mid school.

“Already this morning I noticed that peter kept looking at me all the time, not in ordinary way I don’t know how, I just can’t explain……. I made a special effort not to look at him too much, because whenever I did, he kept on looking too and it gave me a lovely feeling inside...”

It’s not over yet, there’s going to be a lot of scenes that giving you goosebumps which cause by a burglar, yes not a ghost, but a fucking burglar, and other shits that would give you a nerve because Anne’s diary also described how the current war situations going (IT WAS SO INTENSE F U HITLER ROTS IN HELL U DUMBASS). The war was not only happened outside the annex but also inside, the war over making noises when everyone’s sleeping and the use of a little table in afternoon between Anne and Mr. Dussel, I perceived it quite hilarious!

. That’s probably a glance of how this book is so intriguing for me. The perspective of Anne Frank of everything sometimes could be so naïve but also relating to my life as well, even until today. Especially during this corona outbreak which has becoming the pandemic, I’ve stay at my home only for 39 days but already feeling sick even for an introvert and antisocial like me could be that JADED, so right now y’all bitch imagine being Anne Frank have to stayed in a hiding for fucking more than 2 years with exactly the same annoying people every fucking day. Nevertheless, if you guys interested to read this book you can buy it in BBW which available in Tokopedia on 27th April until 3rd May this year, so please don’t miss the chance! (to be noted that im not having any relation to BBW, im just so happy that this bazaar coming up into my life). And also you can check the official website of Anne Frank House in www.annefrank.org, there’s a lot of information you could uncover about Anne and other people in furthermore and the visual of the hiding they have been living (IT’S SO MUCH COOL BRUUH).

I think that’s it, I really had no idea how to review a book, this shit just basically me mumbling my opinion about the books I have read. I hope my writing is getting better than the previous post (even I thought this trash was a degrading quality of mine). And a bit information, I finished and posted this writing in the time of corona virus, it was so hard to everyone enduring all the negative impact from this pandemic on our life, so please if you’re lucky enough to still be able enjoy all the fortunes, please help those who badly impacted of this pandemic and I. BEG. YOU. TO. STAY. AT. YOUR. FUCKING. OWN. HOME. If you’re still strolling around for unimportant purpose and not even using a mask, im literally gonna kill you bitch!

So yeah, that’d be all. Thank you for read until this much guys!

*me talking to non-existing audience*

Xiao, see you in advance!

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bambamramfan · 7 years

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Ironic Humor

How do we define it?

This is not simply dramatic irony, but rather, when someone we respect says something we would consider stupid or cruel but they say (or rather, we just know) they are being ironic.

This comes up because of the constant newsflashes around pewpewdie’s latest joke and overreaction to it, or Milo Y talking about pedophilia, or god knows what other “joke” taken awry *and also* the return of this thread about Baby It’s Cold Outside.

***

A really interesting post that is marxist-without-knowing it, is here. http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/04/22/right-is-the-new-left/ I recommend reading it when you get the chance. But I'll summarize.

The post posits that fashion tastes act like a celluar automata ladder. Celluar automata are models where a single cell, or space on a board, only cares about the spaces next to it, and follows rules based on those spaces. And yet, from these simple rules, large complex patterns can emerge across the entire board.

The post asks us to think of a class ladder of 4 cells: upper, middle, lower, underclass. Each cell has the same two rules: First priority, to imitate the cell above it, second priority to not be like the cell below it. The scenario starts off with all cells being white. Or, all members of society wear white clothes. All the cells that have someone above them are imitating the ones above them, so all is stable.

But the upper class wants to differentiate itself from the middle class. So it changes to black clothes. Next year, the middle class also changes to black clothes, so they can appear upper class. Important note: this really really happens. Look at baby names http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_dismal_science/2005/04/trading_up.html

In the third year, two things happen: the upper class stops wearing black, and the lower class start wearing black. The upper class have no one to imitate, but they really don't want to be viewed as the middle class. But note that in changing to white, they imitate the lower and underclass.

Why is it worth being similar to the lower class and underclass just to be different from the middle class? Because the cell is confident. The way they were raised, the way they talk, the way they *wear* their clothes, means they could never be mistaken for someone as distant as lower class. Their only threat is being mistaken for middle class, who could pass as them and vice versa. (Similarly the lower class don't aspire in the first year to look upper class, it wouldn't work. Their best hope is to pass for middle class.)

So we see this cycle continue, until the upper class – being annoyed at being constantly imitated - hits on a new idea. *Purposefully dress like the lower class*. The middle class can't risk dressing like that, because they fear being mistaken in the wrong direction. The upper class style isn't the exact same as lower class, there are subtle differences they can use to reassure themselves, but it's the subtle differences that the middle class aren't expected to pick up on and will reveal themselves as poseurs. So the subtler, the vaguer, the less defined the better.

This lasts longer, until the middle class really feels safe imitating this style so associated is it with the upper class. The more punishment there is for being mistaken for lower class, the longer this stability will last.

The ideas about imitating those you want to be associated with (but plausibly could pass as), and changing to be different from those you fear being associated with (but plausibly could be mistaken for) are decent important lessons we can all reflect on.

But what really gets me is the result that: the upper class purposefully imitates the lower class as a way of shoring itself up. This is fascinating.

Mark Zuckerberg is famous for being a billionaire who wears a hooded sweatshirt a lot. This is supposed to be a sign that he doesn't care about his appearance. It is instead a sign of *how much* he cares about appearance. He could wear any random thing he wanted, but wears what the other people he interacts with can't get away with. (And this is true for many dressing-down computer geeks in good jobs.)

***

It is important to remember that all class, all status, all appearance is an illusion. There is no essentialist truth of whether you are "at heart a rich person", that means you can't ever be truly poor. Only a series of subtler signals you trust to defend you from being seen as poor. Similarly for charisma, what works to clearly and boldly distinguish you from the awkward people in some situations will fail you in others.

But these illusions are very real and matter a lot. They determine how people treat us. And we've internalized them as true, so when we fight for them we feel we are fighting both for the tangible benefits, and the sanctity of our identity. And because of the relative class ladder, any gains we make make some others feel they are losing something (damn middle class stop thinking they are as good as us.)

It's also important that this constant struggle makes us constantly unhappy.

***

Now the way tribal slurs work make a lot more sense. We all know how oppressed groups have taken words that were used to insult them, and instead use them affectionately with each other. The controversy of the racist and sexist terms I think obscures how common this is. Nerds use the term geek, military folks use the term jarhead, midwesterners use hoosier, extreme christians use the term fundie. All these are at once insults from the enemy, and affectionate monikers among each other.

This is sometimes described as appropriating the terms, and showing your power by taking possession of a word (like the enemy's gun) is one aspect of what's going on. But that overstates the process I think. If the word's meaning was changed, then that would apply to everyone. By acknowledging that the word is still a slur when it comes out of the mouths of people outside your tribe, you acknowledge the meaning hasn't really been changed. So that's not the (full) dynamic that's going on.

But under fashion theory, it makes perfect sense.

Imagine there are three groups in ascending moral order. Martians (who have been persecuted since they fled their exploding planet), friends of Martians who now feel guilty for all the persecution Martians have suffered, and anti-Martian bigots. The bigots used the term "redder" to refer to Martians. And one day, the Martians start using the word redder too. So some friends of Martians, wonder why they can't use redder. After all, they aren't bigots so when they use the term it won't have that slur meaning. How could you possibly mistake the friend of Martians for a bigot? Their best friend is Martian.

The Martians know you aren't a bigot. You aren't lower class. But you are middle class pretending to be upper class. And they would like you to know, that instead you are a middle class at risk of being seen as lower class. If you continue to try to rebel against the class structure, then they will eventually decide you actually lower class. And by the nature of appearance, the judgment of others that you are lower class will make you lower class.

You own internal beliefs about Martians and bigotry don't enter into it. No one can directly observe them.

And for now, no matter what your beliefs are, you can't pass as upper class. You will never be an actual Martian.

But, ahha, you the middle class friend thinks. You have so much credibility with some Martians – so many friends, so many hours spent fighting for their cause, you know how to cook their recipes, you adopted a Martian daughter – that many of them do consider you one of them. So you can safely use the term redder, and have used it meaning the better meaning on many occasions. Other Martians were fine with it.

That was elsewhere. This is here. You thought you could pass with others, but those "subtle signals" you trust don't actually shield you in all situations. There is no truth to whether, deep down, you are a Martian or a bigot. There is just the appearance, and at this point, you appear as a middle class person looking lower class.

Stop imitating us or we will get very angry.

(The Martian case is understandable here too. Tribal cohesion and identity is important to people. The Martians these days rarely interact with bigots. But they do interact with middle class friends of Martians all the time. They need to ruthlessly patrol the boundaries between their tribe and the closest.)

This becomes an identity fight (am I Martian or not) and everyone is miserable.

***

Irony at this point should be obvious. I can write a blog praising Jar Jar Binks, a character associated with childish writing and lack of intellect. But no one thinks of me as someone who likes those things (I'm not lower class), so by praising him I separate myself from all the middle class people who merely dislike Jar Jar Binks. I like him at a higher level, thus elevating my perceived intellect. The real risky thing for me to do would instead to talk about how much I loved Lord of the Rings.

Check out how many film critics and academics love pro-wrestling and bad slasher horror movies.

(Hilariously, from a distance, I look just like someone who non-ironically appreciates Jar Jar Binks, and arguments about the different reasons we like the character look like two comic book nerds arguing: http://www.theonion.com/articles/i-appreciate-the-muppets-on-a-much-deeper-level-th,16208/ )

When someone is being ironically sexist, they are not just talking about themselves versus the sexists. They are positing a middle group that is not an obvious bigot, but needs to watch themselves and toe the line.

Liberal egalitarians rebel against this analysis. A joke should be the same whether it comes from a female mathematician or a male mathematician, right? There must be something inherent in the joke that if we break it down, we can find the sexism or lack thereof.

But we're not really talking about the joke. In fact the joke (whether sexist or ironic) has trivial impact on like anyone at all. What it does is tell us about the person who said it. And there's nothing egalitarian in using signals to analyze who someone really is, we are by definition judging and ranking them already. So yes, an ironic joke has to mean something different coming from someone with real credibility. (Where by "mean something" we refer solely to "what it says about the speaker".)

We at once believe there is a difference, and yet will always resist it. It must be definitionally indistinguishable, and undefinably distinct. If you defined an element of a joke that makes it ironic (it has to be satire, or not delivered in this specific way, or…) then the middle class could safely start using it. And that is very much against the point. But if you said "nope it's entirely about who said it" then you would give the lie to liberal egalitarianism. A lie we can't resist right now.

Liberals barely manage to struggle with the idea that certain four and six letter words are off limits to them when talking about other races. How could they accept that a whole sphere of jokes is disallowed to them?

(Ideology is contradiction. The rules must neither be too clear, nor too opaque.)

***

The point is that under our current social system, this type of dynamic is constant. The upper class (whatever group is respected most in any particular scenario) will imitate a lower class behavior, and some of the middle class will think they can imitate that, and they will get *smacked down hard*.

And because appearance is very different based on perspective, people go into these status contests with very different assumptions, and other people fight to disabuse them of their perspective and instead enforce the moral rightness of their own perspective.

This is of course, not the only dynamic going on in any social situation. But it's a common one and one designed to lead to misery. Thinking you are trending upper class but being told you're actually at risk of lower class is a huge source of anxiety, and will cause fierce arguments and internal anger.

***

The scandal referred to as #Shirtgate (haha, I am ironically using a phrase that MRA types used to describe it, only because the reader knows for certain I don’t think it’s actually a scandal worthy of the word gate) is a perfect example of this.

In short, a scientist who was part of the team that landed a rover on a comet, did a televised interview wearing the shirt you’ll see here http://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/styles/fullnode_image/public/blogs_2014/11/shirtgate.png?itok=HZIEUWip .

It has half dressed women on it. Accordingly, he thought it was ironic. As evidence for his good intent, he has many signals typical of being a liberal hipster. In particular the shirt was made for him by a feminist female friend, and with all of that he presumably thought he was secure in the shirt being read as a signal of the upper class (unimpeachably not sexist) instead of the lower class (very sexist.)

If Ruth Bader Ginsburg had walked in wearing that shirt, we would have laughed. We should have laughed, because the image of her in that shirt is pretty funny. A bearded middle aged hipster guy, is less convincing of irony and thus less funny. (Even if his has other traits and history that might make him think him being sexist is as absurd as RBG).

Shirtguy publicly apologized, and vocal critics accepted this. This was shown as evidence of mercy, but is in fact entirely the point. He admitted that he is middle class (not blatantly sexist, but potentially so) and stopped fronting as upper class, and the upper class was glad that this boundary had been policed. That is the ideal class sustaining outcome. If Shirtguy rebelled and fought to prove his irony, he would have been relegated to lower class (assumed bigot), but it would have created an enemy and more dissatisfaction with the class system.

The public claim for this criticism was that the shirt showed how women are objectified in science and why many women stay out of science. This is entirely fitting. By objectified, the critics mean “the shirt reveals that the guy has intent to view women as objects”. If the shirt was worn by someone (like Ruth Bader Ginsburg) who was unimpeachable, then it couldn’t represent that. The shirt is saying that to them because of who wears it, and the other signals he flies.

His actual, true inner intent is irrelevant of course. It can’t be measured objectively, and is just something people use various signals to theorize about.

He thought (in another context) he was upper class enough to wear irony. In the more public context, he was not.

***

Reading this, it’s easy to blame the upper class (of any particular scenario). But even the upper class is oppressed by this. Mark Zuckerberg’s dress style is still determined. And even when enforcing these class boundaries, they are unhappy - afraid, angry, and even paranoid. The cycle demands sympathy for everyone involved.

And the band for the middle class, the distance between unimpeachably pure and possible bigot is much thinner than we expect, especially when we add in variance for different perspectives. We are all surrounded by class anxiety, even those at the top.

***

So now I have to reevaluate how I use irony. I like irony, it makes me laugh a lot. Jon Bois is one of the funniest writers I know, and he's clearly "separating himself from middle class writers by showing he can write like a lower class (stupid) person but with subtle distinctions so we know he doesn't really mean it.”

Even if you think Jon Bois subtly distinguishes his work from the targets that his irony is mocking (and there is real skill in his writing), I’ve read other convincing ironists who simply copy paste what someone from the lower class wrote, but now under their handle. It’s still funny.

But I'm also uncomfortable being part of the status cycle of misery. It's possible that there's no way I can escape status and can never be 100% pure. We have to make choices. But this honestly feels like a fairly direct instantiation of the class ladder, too direct to just ignore.

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wieseseminar-blog · 4 years

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Course Post #5: Hesitation in calling out the Absurd

I’m sure that in the time of the Wright Brothers in 1903, the idea of men flying in the air was as ludicrous as the idea of the entire world being thrown into war. Well after two terrible displays of human atrocities and a lot of planes being involved later, we just sort of accept that everything that happened was normal. Perhaps terrible, but normal in some capacity because we’ve grown used to war. I bring this up because ordinary is only seen in hindsight and with understanding. The extraordinary is in your face and in the moment, and doesn’t stop being weird until it’s explained and becomes our reality. Dunne and Raby bring this up in Speculative Everything as a way to point out that just because an idea is implausible or improbably doesn’t make it impossible. And in many respects it can still be a great idea. Tying to the 1903 example though, the planes were the better idea than the terrible onslaught brought about by WWI and WWII. Should go without saying, but best to cover bases before covering the the fun stuff.

What’s interesting about speculative everything is that it brings up the idea that dreams influence us into making what we perceive to be impossible, possible. Now granted, we only really see this because as consumers, we often only see the final product of an idea that was tested and sold on mass market appeal. But without a doubt, many prototypes and hilarious failed attempts were put forth first before we ever thought of spending money. Sometimes an idea is entirely rejected or given little faith at this stage because the ‘’ridiculous’ label never went away. Looking at you Otamatone (in truth I love those ridiculous instruments in the below picture) And an idea can just seem ridiculous not because it has to go through phases, but maybe just because it seems unlikely to ever happen. Take for example the classic Star Trek wrist communicator from the original show. This was at a time when even cell phones weren’t even around and regular phones were still stuck to a wall. But this nerdy little sci-fi show embraced it’s improbability and made something mind-blowing (the communicator I mean, the show that was made was pretty campy). Fast forward half a century later and we accept the idea of the Apple Watch. Funny how an unlikely idea got some traction way after its time.

I want to look at an accepted idea like the Apple Watch and the Wright Brother’s flying machine because they represent the practical side of Speculative Everything. The book shows off dozens of other examples of the improbable in the form of art, but do teeter on the edge of impossible. This is fine because they’re art and can take advantage of their media, but it still makes the ideas impractical. I mean, we’re studying the idea of smart cities and how to expand on technology to make the city itself more involved in our lives. But the impossible ideas in that art are just too extravagant to work. and are well outside the graph presented right in the beginning of the book (pg. 5). Yet I still find it hard to reject this thinking altogether because the examples I presented may have been outside the graph too. I’m limited to the here and now and lack the hind-sight of these current and wild ideas to consider them probable. So for now, I think I’ll wait, and see what kind of impossible things are made possible, or even weird things made normal. Truly, that is Speculative ‘Everything.’

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